Acute Paint Thinner Treatment Induces Cell Death in Cultured Neurons and Astrocytes

Background: Paint thinner is a highly toxic chemical solvent, that when inhaled has many psychoactive properties. Chronic abuse of inhalants in humans leads to pronounced neurobiological and neuropsychological impairments; however, limited studies have demonstrated the cytotoxic effects of exposure to organic solvents in its complex mixture form. Objectives: Neuronal cells could be affected by exposure to thinner as it contains a vast mixture of volatile solvents that synergistically could have a direct effect on biology and viability of these cells. The present study aimed to test the toxicity of thinner on metabolic activities of neurons and astrocytes in primary cell culture. Methods: For the assessment of acute effects of thinner treatment on neuronal cells and the evaluation of the doseand timeresponse dependencies, cultured neurons and astrocytes were treated acutely by gradually increased concentrations of thinner during different time of incubation. The MTT assay was used to estimate the cytotoxicity of the solvent. Results: Our results demonstrate that the thinner has an important cytotoxic effect and induces concentration-dependent cell death in both cultured neurons and astrocytes. In addition, the fact that the viability of glial cells is the only dependent on the exposure time demonstrated that the toxic effect causes a stronger degeneration over neurons than glial cells. Conclusions: The thinner has a cytotoxic effect on neurons and glial cells. We suggest that the wide range of neurological symptoms produced by inhalant exposure can be correlated with the direct effect of the solvent on the biology of neuronal cells.