Propylene oxide causes central-peripheral distal axonopathy in rats.

In Wistar rats subjected daily to a 6-hr exposure of propylene oxide (PO) at a concentration of 1,500 ppm (5 times a wk for 7 wk), ataxia developed in the hindlegs. Myelinated fibers in hindleg nerves and in the fasciculus gracilis showed axonal degeneration, sparing the nerve cell body of the first sacral dorsal root ganglion and myelinated fibers of the first sacral dorsal and ventral roots. These pathologic findings are compatible with central-peripheral distal axonopathy. This is apparently the first animal model of PO neuropathy to be verified histologically.