Rosén I, Haeger-Aronsen B, Rehnström S, Welinder H
Scand J Work Environ Health. 1978;4 Suppl 2:184-94.
Thirty-three styrene exposed workers from three different industrial sites were examined with electroencephalography and motor and sensory neurography. The three groups had respective styrene exposures of clearly above the threshold limit value (50 ppm), at about this level, and clearly below it. The neurophysiological results were compared with those of a group of normal controls and a group of 17 patients judged to suffer from sequelae after long-term heavy exposure to organic solvents (mainly painters). Ten subjects in the styrene group presented signs of a mild sensory neuropathy with polyphasic sensory responses of a low amplitude. The same pattern was commonly found among the reference group heavily exposed to solvents. The ten subjects in the styrene group with mild polyneuropathy had a significantly higher age and significantly heavier styrene exposure than the rest of the group. Age difference could not explain the difference in the neurophysiological parameters, and therefore the contributing role of styrene exposure has to be considered. The electroencephalographic analysis showed no changes of the dominant alpha frequency. An increased amount of diffuse slow activity was seen in many of the heavily exposed mixed-solvent cases and was seen in some of the styrene-exposed cases without a clear relation to degree of exposure. An increased occurrence of fast activity in central and precentral areas of the brain was found in the styrene group, as well as in the mixed-solvent group. This pilot study indicates that the same type of neurophysiological changes from the strictly normal are seen among workers exposed to styrene as those found among a group of patients judged to suffer from sequelae after chronic exposure to various organic solvents. The neurophysiological "profile" is (a) sensory nerve responses with low amplitude and long duration, (b) somewhat low sensory conduction velocities, (c) close to normal motor neurographic findings, and (d) an increased amount of fast activity in central and precentral regions in the electroencephalogram in combination with normal occipital alpha activity.
对来自三个不同工业场所的33名接触苯乙烯的工人进行了脑电图、运动和感觉神经电图检查。三组工人的苯乙烯接触量分别明显高于阈限值（50 ppm）、约为该水平以及明显低于该水平。将神经生理学结果与一组正常对照者以及一组17名被判定为长期大量接触有机溶剂（主要是油漆工）后患有后遗症的患者的结果进行了比较。苯乙烯组中有10名受试者出现轻度感觉神经病变的迹象，伴有低幅多相感觉反应。在重度接触溶剂的参照组中也普遍发现了相同的模式。苯乙烯组中患有轻度多发性神经病变的10名受试者的年龄明显更大，苯乙烯接触量也明显更高。年龄差异无法解释神经生理学参数的差异，因此必须考虑苯乙烯接触的作用。脑电图分析显示优势α频率没有变化。在许多重度接触混合溶剂的病例中观察到弥漫性慢活动增加，在一些接触苯乙烯的病例中也观察到了这种情况，但与接触程度没有明显关系。在苯乙烯组以及混合溶剂组中，发现大脑中央和中央前区的快速活动发生率增加。这项初步研究表明，接触苯乙烯的工人出现了与严格意义上的正常情况不同的相同类型的神经生理学变化，这与一组被判定为长期接触各种有机溶剂后患有后遗症的患者中发现的变化相同。神经生理学“特征”为：（a）低幅和持续时间长的感觉神经反应；（b）感觉传导速度略低；（c）运动神经电图结果接近正常；（d）脑电图中中央和中央前区的快速活动增加，同时枕叶α活动正常。
