title: The neurobehavioral effects of chronic styrene exposure in the rat.
abstract: Groups of rats were exposed by inhalation to either clear air (controls) or styrene monomer (STY) at 350, 700 or 1400 ppm for 16 hr/day, 5 days/week for 18 weeks. At preselected intervals, animals were evaluated for changes in: 1) spontaneous activity, 2) grip-strength, 3) coordinated hindlimb movement, 4) performance on a discrete-trial two-choice visual discrimination task, and 5) peripheral nerve conduction velocity. Compared to controls, STY-treated rats showed a mild but somewhat inconsistent reduction in activity and gripstrength during the course of exposure. Coordinated movement and peripheral nerve conduction time were unaffected. With respect to discrimination performance, exposure on Day 1 produced marked deficits in response speed and accuracy. By Day 2, deficits in discrimination performance were reduced by greater than 50% and the performance of STY-treated rats continued to improve as exposure continued. Finally, during the last weeks of exposure, the performance of STY-treated rats was equivalent to that of controls and no styrene-related deficits could be measured in the postexposure period.
authors.affiliation: Medical Biological Laboratory TNO, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kulig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D006614:Hindlimb; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D009068:Movement / Q000187:drug effects*; D009132:Muscles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000187:drug effects; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012016:Reference Values; D020058:Styrene; D013343:Styrenes / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D009498:Neurotoxins; D013343:Styrenes; D020058:Styrene