Effects of abuse pattern of gestational toluene exposure on metabolism, feeding and body composition

• Published in: Physiology & behavior 2008-03, Vol.93 (4), p.984-993
• Main Authors: Jarosz, Patricia A, Fata, Ellen, Bowen, Scott E, Jen, K-L. Catherine, Coscina, Donald V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body composition; Body Composition - drug effects; Body Composition - physiology; Body weight; Body Weight - drug effects; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Eating - drug effects; Energy expenditure; Female; Food intake; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Inhalants; Male; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Respiratory quotient; Solvents - toxicity; Substance-Related Disorders - etiology; Substance-Related Disorders - metabolism; Substance-Related Disorders - physiopathology; Toluene - toxicity; Toluene abuse; Volatile solvents
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.12.016

Abstract Aims Inhalant abuse during pregnancy lowers birth weight and impedes early development. These studies explored the effects of brief, repeated, prenatal toluene exposures in pregnant female rats on body weight, metabolic rate, body composition, and food intake in their offspring. Method Rats were exposed to 0, 8000, 12,000, or 16,000 ppm of toluene twice daily for 15 min from gestational days 8 to 20. The effects of such exposures on post-weaning litter weights, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide output, and body fat content were determined in 2 cohorts ( n = 23, n = 24) of offspring. Food intakes and weight changes in response to 3 different diets (regular chow, purified diet, purified high fat diet) were examined in another cohort ( n = 24) from postnatal days 72 to116. Results Litter weights showed a significant linear decrease as a function of toluene dose. Offspring exposed to the 16,000 ppm toluene dose displayed statistically lower energy expenditures than control rats. Male rats exposed to 8000 or 16,000 ppm toluene had significantly greater percentage of body fat as well as total body fat than the other groups. Toluene also significantly suppressed weight gain over the time chow was consumed compared to the 0 ppm control group. Finally there were trends for a main effect of toluene dose on food intake during chow and during high fat diet consumption, with rats in the 12,000 ppm group consuming more than the 0 ppm group on both diets. Discussion These data suggest that, in addition to other previously documented abnormalities in neurological development and behavior, the physiological regulation of metabolism and body composition in males as well as food intake and weight gain in both sexes may be altered by prenatal exposure to toluene.