Establishment of a rat model of subacute toxic encephalopathy induced by 1, 2-dichloroethane / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a rat model of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE)-induced subacute toxic encephalopathy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups negative control, positive control, low-dose DCE (1 472 mg/m(3)), middle-dose DCE (2 550 mg/m(3)), and high-dose DCE (4 418 mg/m(3)). The three DCE groups received static inhalation of DCE 6 hours a day for 6 consecutive days. The positive control group received intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (5 mg/kg) and were sacrificed 8 hours after injection. Blood and brain tissue were collected, followed by determination of brain water content and HE staining for pathological examination of brain tissue.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The rats in DCE groups suffered decreased body weight with increasing DCE dose (P < 0.01), and brain water content rose with increasing DCEdose. The brain water content of middle-dose DCE group (80.09 ± 0.14%) and high-dose DCE group (80.28±0.10%) increased significantly as compared with that of the negative control group (79.46±0.23%) (P < 0.001). Optical microscopy discovered loose structure and vasodilation in the brain tissue of middle-dose DCE group, indicating obvious brain edema; the high-dose DCE group and positive control group had spongiform and vacuolated brain tissues with severe vascular dilation, indicating severe brain edema.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A rat model of subacute toxic encephalopathy induced by 1, 2-dichloroethane has been successfully established.</p>