[Acute and chronic effects of organic solvents on the central nervous system. Use of psychobehavioral performance tests in the assessment of toxicity].

Neurotoxicity of organic solvents is one of the most important emerging issues in the field of occupational health. Psychological testing has been proven useful not only in clinical diagnosis but also in experimental and epidemiological studies. Although various psychobehavioral performance test batteries have been applied in the study of neurotoxicity of organic solvents during these last two decades among European countries and America, only few studies have been made on these in Japan. It is therefore considered very important to review the major papers published to date, clarify the issues being currently discussed, and propose important studies for future. The present paper provides a review of the results obtained by the application of behavioral performance tests in the study of solvent toxicity. The studies reviewed are classified into the following five parts: 1. psychological test batteries developed to date, 2. human experimental studies and experimental field studies on the acute toxicity of organic solvents, 3. epidemiological studies on industrial workers, 4. characteristics of the central nervous system dysfunction caused by organic solvents, and 5. prognosis of workers diagnosed as chronic organic solvent intoxication. The paper also discusses the applicability of psychobehavioral techniques and addresses issues in data collection in the study of the effects of solvent exposure on the nervous system.