英国《BMC生理学》杂志刊登的一项最新研究显示，吸入汽油烟雾会影响实验鼠的神经系统，使其变得更具攻击性。
埃及开罗大学研究人员在《BMC生理学》杂志上报告说，他们将实验鼠分为3组，分别处于无铅汽油烟雾、含铅汽油烟雾或清洁空气环境中，结果显示，与处于清洁空气环境中的实验鼠相比，两组暴露在汽油烟雾下的实验鼠出现更多攻击行为。
对这些实验鼠大脑的检查显示，实验鼠吸入的汽油分子会导致其大脑中的神经递质水平出现明显波动，这可能是它们更具攻击性的原因。
研究人员说，汽车尾气等中还有大量汽油分子，他们的研究成果或许可以帮助解释一些开车人为何常变得烦躁，因此他们建议公共卫生部门更多关注这方面的研究。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
BMC Physiology 2009, 9:21doi:10.1186/1472-6793-9-21
Impact of gasoline inhalation on some neurobehavioural characteristics of male rats
Background
This paper examines closely and compares the potential hazards of inhalation of two types of gasoline (car fuel). The first type is the commonly use leaded gasoline and the second is the unleaded type enriched with oxygenate additives as lead substituent in order to raise the octane number. The impacts of gasoline exposure on Na+, K+-ATPase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), total protein, reduced glutathione (GSH), and lipid peroxidation (TBARS) in the cerebral cortex, and monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT) in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum and hypothalamus were evaluated. The effect of gasoline exposure on the aggressive behaviour tests was also studied.
Results
The present results revealed that gasoline inhalation induced significant fluctuations in the levels of the monoamine neurotransmitters in the studied brain regions. This was concomitant with a decrease in Na+, K+-ATPase activity and total protein content. Moreover, the group exposed to the unleaded gasoline exhibited an increase in lipid peroxidation and a decrease in AChE and superoxide dismutase activities. These physiological impairments were accompanied with a higher tendency towards aggressive behaviour as a consequence to gasoline inhalation.
Conclusion
It is concluded from the present work that chronic exposure to either the leaded or the unleaded gasoline vapours impaired the levels of monoamine neurotransmitters and other biochemical parameters in different brain areas and modulated several behavioural aspects related to aggression in rats.
