This thesis focuses on methods for quantification by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) of specific biomarkers for internal dose of chemicals which induce toxicity through their electrophilic reactivity. In vivo such compounds are short-lived, and could feasibly be measured as their reaction products (adducts) with biomacromolecules. Analysis by MS methods of stable adducts offers the specificity and accuracy required to generate data on internal dose useful in risk estimation.

The primary aim was to develop a method for quantification by LC/MS of bulky adducts to serum albumin (SA) from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, using the genotoxic diolepoxide (DE) of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) as a model. A method for analysis of the BPDE adducts to His¹⁴⁶ in SA was developed which is robust, easy-to-use, has good reproducibility and which reached a high sensitivity. A method for quantification of BPDE adducts to N²-deoxyguanosine (dG) in DNA by LC/MS was also established.

In mice exposed to BP, adducts to SA and DNA from stereoisomers of BPDE were identified and quantified. The adduct level was shown to be >400 times higher in DNA than in SA, which from an in vitro study could be concluded to mainly depend on a large difference in the rates of adduct formation to His in SA and to dG in DNA. BPDE adduct levels to SA and DNA, and a biomarker of genotoxic effect (frequency of micronuclei), were compared in BP-exposed mice. The results were used to evaluate how these methods could be used in procedures for cancer risk estimation.

An LC/MS method for analysis of valine hydantoins (VH) formed as adducts from isocyanates to N-termini in haemoglobin was established. VH, formed from urea/isocyanic acid, was investigated in mice as a potential biomarker of renal failure and for dose adjustment during treatment with a radioactive cytostatic drug. The kidney dysfunction was not severe enough to give a significant increase of VH in the experiment.