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Published on: February 4, 2022
Corpus callosum volume in railroad workers with chronic exposure to solvents
Marc W Haut1, Hiroto Kuwabara, Alan M Ducatman
1Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA. mhaut@hsc.wvu.edu
Objective:
Changes to cognition and behavior have been reported after long-term exposure to solvents. Solvents are hypothesized to affect brain white matter. To test this, we examined the volume of the corpus callosum in workers with a history of exposure to solvents.
Methods:
We manually traced (blind to group membership) the volume of the corpus callosum in 31 railroad workers and 31 matched controls.
Results:
There was a decrease in the genu of the corpus callosum in the solvent-exposed workers compared with controls. A smaller volume of the genu of the corpus callosum was associated with greater exposure and worse performance on cognitive tasks.
Conclusions:
This study supports the hypothesis that occupational exposure to solvents affects the anterior white matter of the brain and is related to extent of exposure and degree of cognitive change.
