The absorption and accumulation characteristics of Ethyl Carbamate in human HepG2 cells revealed by UPLC-TOF-MS

Ethyl carbamate (EC), a toxic contaminant occurring in food processing, may possess a risk to human health. To facilitate the basic study on its metabolism and applied study on its monitoring, we first established a rapid determination method of EC in human cells (HepG2) based on UPLC-TOF-MS. This method showed good linearity over a range of 60-6000 ng/mL (R2>0.99) in both extra/intra-cellular matrixes. The limits of detection (LOD) and the limits of quantification (LOQ) for both matrixes were 31 ng/mL and 40 ng/mL, 133 ng/mL and 103 ng/mL, respectively. Recoveries and stabilities (RSD) of this method for both extra/intra-matrices were over 76% and smaller than 13%, respectively. Then, using the established method, we determined the absorption and accumulation characteristics of EC in both matrixes, which, for the first time, showed that EC could be absorbed and accumulated by HepG2 cells. Notably, the kinetics of EC accumulation in cell pellets was consistent with results of cell viability assay, demonstrating that exposure to EC had potential adverse effects on cell viability.