Development of a direct exposure system for studying the mechanisms of central neurotoxicity caused by volatile organic compounds

作者：Kanemitsu Masanari; Fueta Yukiko^*; Ishidao Toru; Aou Shuji; Hori Hajime

来源：Industrial Health, 2016, 54(1): 42-49.

DOI：10.2486/indhealth.2015-0076

• Organic solvent
• Central neurotoxicity
• Gas-liquid equilibrium
• Electrophysiology
• Brain slices

Many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) used in work places are neurotoxic. However, it has been difficult to study the cellular mechanisms induced by a direct exposure to neurons because of their high volatility. The objective of this study was to establish a stable system for exposing brain slices to VOCs. With a conventional recording system for brain slices, it is not possible to keep a constant bath concentration of relatively highly volatile solvents, e.g. 1-bromopropane (1-BP). Here we report a new exposure system for VOCs that we developed in which a high concentration of oxygen is dissolved to a perfused medium applying a gas-liquid equilibrium, and in which the tubing is made of Teflon, non adsorptive material. Using our system, the bath concentration of the perfused 1-BP remained stable for at least 2 h in the slice chamber. Both 6.4 and 2.2 mM of 1-BP did not change the paired-pulse response, but fully suppressed long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus (DG) of hippocampal slices obtained from rats, suggesting that 1-BP decreases synaptic plasticity in the DG at the concentrations tested. Our new system can be applicable for investigating the underlying mechanisms of the neurotoxicity of VOCs at the cellular level.

• 出版日期2016-1