Toward a behavioral toxicology of paint thinner.

Few experiments have been carried out to evaluate the effects of toxic industrial substances such as the solvents on operant behavior. Laboratory rats trained in a mult FR DRL reinforcement schedule showed a differential impairment in performance when exposed to various doses of paint thinner in the experimental chamber, the FR performance being more sensitive to the solvent than DRL responding. Another study of rats working under a FI schedule suggested that the effects of paint thinner are rate-dependent, a finding which suggests a similarity of thinner with the amphetamines in regard to the behavioral effect. Two other experiments addressed to the behavioral effects of chronic exposure to the solvent showed a decrease in locomotor activity and an impaired acquisition of a complex temporal discrimination task in laboratory rats exposed to paint thinner during four, eight of sixteen weeks. These findings are suggestive of brain dysfunction associated with thinner inhalation but further experiments are needed for more definite conclusions.