A histopathologic study of the nervous system after inhalation exposure of 1-bromopropane in rat.
1-Bromopropane (1-BP) has recently become known as an alternative cleaning material with less damage to the ozone layer. However, its toxicity is not fully evaluated. This study was designed to investigate the repeated inhalation toxicity of 1-BP on the nervous systems in Sprague-Dawley rats. The experiment was done by repeated exposure of the rats to 0, 200, 500, and 1250 ppm for 6 h per day, 5 days a week, for 13 weeks, respectively. Morphologic studies were done for the central nervous system, sacral and peroneal nerves. The serial sections of the brain and spinal cord of 1-BP inhalation groups revealed no pathological features either in the gray or white matter. The nerve fiber teasing, light and electron microscopic studies of the sacral and peroneal nerve fibers showed no significant difference between 1-BP inhalation groups and the control group. From these results, it is concluded that the nervous system is histologically resistant to the repeated inhalation of 1-BP up to 1250 ppm for 13 weeks. Experiments with higher concentrations of 1-BP and the functional studies are necessary to clarify the 1-BP toxicity.