Persistent cognitive and morphological alterations induced by repeated exposure of adolescent rats to the abused inhalant toluene.

ABSTRACT: While thepsychoactive inhalant toluene causes behavioral effects similarto those produced by other drugs of abuse, the persistent behavioral and anatomical abnormalities induced by toluene exposure are not well known. To mimic human "binge-like" inhalant intoxication, adolescent, male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to toluene vapor (5700ppm) twice daily for five consecutive days. These rats remained in their home cages until adulthood (P60), when they were trained in operant boxes to respond to a palatable food reward and then challenged with several different cognitive tasks. Rats that experienced chronic exposure to toluene plus abstinence ("CTA") showed enhanced performance in a strategy set-shifting task using a between-session, but not a within-session test design. CTA also blunted

SUBMITTER: Braunscheidel KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5583007 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature