Persistent effects of 80 ppm toluene on dopamine-regulated locomotor activity and prolactin secretion in the male rat

In the present study we have investigated the effects of toluene exposure (80 ppm, 4 weeks, 5 day/week, 6 h/day) on the serum levels of prolactin, and elaborated our earlier findings about persistent effects of toluene exposureon apomorphine-induced (1 mg/kg, s.c.] locomotor activity. We found that the serum levels of prolactin were increased by 67% in the toluene-exposed rats, as analyzed 17 days after the last exposure. The locomotor activity counts of the control rats were not normally distributed before log-transformation, since most rats showed a low level of activity and only a few showed a very high activity level