Solvent inhalation (toluene and n-hexane) during the brain growth spurt impairs the maturation of frontal, parietal and occipital cerebrocortical neurons in rats

R. Pascual, Luz Aedo, Juan Carlos Meneses, Daniela Vergara, Álvaro Reyes, Carlos Bustamante

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Solvent abuse during pregnancy may cause " fetal solvent syndrome" , which is characterized by mild brain atrophy and associated with behavioral, cognitive, and emotional abnormalities. The present study investigated whether solvent inhalation during the preweaning period (P2-P21) alters the morphological maturation of frontal, parietal, and occipital cortical neurons. Twelve hours after delivery (postnatal day 0, P0), litters were cross-fostered, culled to 8 pups/dam and housed together with a dam in standard laboratory cages. Litters were randomly assigned to the " air-only" group (n=64, 8 litters) and to the " solvent-sniffer" group (n=72, 9 litters). During P2-P21, each animal was exposed daily to either organic solvent vapors (75% toluene and 18% n-hexane, a solvent mixture commonly found in glues and adhesives) or clean air. To determine the impact of early solvent inhalation on cortical neuronal differentiation, brains were stained using the Golgi-Cox-Sholl procedure to quantitatively assess neocortical pyramidal cell dendrogenesis. Preweaning, solvent-exposed animals displayed dramatic impairments in dendritic growth as well as significant reductions in brain weight and size.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)491-495
Number of pages5
JournalInternational Journal of Developmental Neuroscience
Volume28
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2010

Keywords

  • Brain growth spurt
  • Cortical neurons
  • Dendritic development
  • Solvent inhalation

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