Cyanide and thiocyanate levels in blood and saliva of healthy adult volunteers

Abstract

Cyanide and thiocyanate levels were determined by head space gas chromatography and the spectrophotometric Konig method respectively, for blood and salivary samples collected from 40 healthy adult volunteers. Blood cyanide (mean ± standard deviation: 0.27 ± 0.07 μM), plasma thiocyanate (111.2 ± 92.1 μM), salivary cyanide (0.66 ± 0.52 μM) and salivary thiocyanate (1655 ± 841 μM) levels were significantly higher in the group of 20 tobacco smokers than in the group of 20 nonsmokers (0.17 ± 0.04 μM, 33.5 ± 25.4 μM, 0.38 ± 0.26 μM, 542 ± 406 μM). Statistical correlations were observed between the blood cyanide and the salivary thiocyanate levels (γ = 0.64), between the blood cyanide and the plasma thiocyanate levels (γ= 0.54), and between the plasma thiocyanate and the salivary thiocyanate levels (γ= 0.46). It is concluded that not only plasma and salivary thiocyanate levels but also blood cyanide level can be suitable indices for distinguishing smokers from nonsmokers.