Neurobehavioral Effects of Acute Exposure to Normal (n-) Paraffins

Abstract

This article reports the results of neurobehavioral tests on C5-C10 normal paraffinic constituents (n-paraffins). Shortly after exposure, effects were evaluated in several domains including clinical effects, motor activity, functional observations, and visual discrimination performance. The representative C5 n-paraffin, n-pentane, did not produce any evidence of acute central nervous system (CNS) effects at levels up to 20 000 mg/m3. Similarly, there was no compelling evidence that n-octane (C8) produced CNS effects at 14 000 mg/m3, the highest concentration tested. n-decane (C10) produced minor, reversible acute CNS effects at 5000 mg/m3, with 1500 mg/m3 as the no-effect level. Consistent with literature data, there seemed to be a relationship between increasing molecular weight up to C10 and acute CNS effects. However, the CNS effects were reversible. Repeated exposures did not provide evidence of metabolic induction.