ULTRASTRUCTURAL-CHANGES OF TISSUES PRODUCED BY INHALATION OF THINNER IN RATS

Thinner is a substance that is used for industrial purposes and for dr ug abuse; addiction is of young people (average age, 7.5 years). Altho ugh the health problem of voluntary or nonvoluntary solvent sniffing i s important, great attention has been paid to the epidemiology and pha rmacology of paint thinner or industrial solvents inhalation, but stud ies at the morphological and biochemical level are scarce. This work d escribes the morphological changes in the lung, liver, kidney, adrenal glands, and central nervous system induced by short- (up to 4 weeks) and long-term (up to 14 weeks) periods of thinner inhalation in rats. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.