Abstract
Volatile solvents are liquids that vapourize at room temperature and are found in a multitude of inexpensive, easily available products used for common household and industrial purposes. There is an increased abuse of inhalants among the youths in Nigeria for the purpose of mind-alteration or getting high. Vulcanizer solutions are one of the widely used inhalants that lack proper labelling hence there may be adulteration of these substances which could also be dangerous to health of the sniffers. The objective of this research was to subject wistar albino rats to different brands of vulcanizer solutions to investigate the possible effects these solutions have on social behaviour as well as significant changes in the concentrations of some liver function enzymes. Commercial assay kit from Randox Laboratories Ltd was used for the determination of the enzymes of interest. The study found that only alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was significantly increased (P ˂ 0.05) and changes in behaviours on exposition to miliki diamond (MD) solutions were observed. Serum ALT, AST and ALP levels have been reported to increase than normal in various hepatocellular damages such as necrosis, hepatitis, etc. However, ALT is more specific for detection of hepatotoxicity, therefore its significant increase, when other enzymes do not increase, indicates that vulcanizer solutions (specifically MD) may contribute enormously to certain liver diseases. The changes in behaviours as well as enzyme concentration could be due to various chemicals constituents (such as benzene, toluene, ethyl, etc) in vulcanizer solutions. Therefore, sniffers of vulcanizer solutions may be highly susceptible to various diseases of the liver and other organs, and this may contribute enormously to the prevalence of liver diseases as being recently reported.
Highlights
The use of drugs and volatile substances among the youths in Nigeria has become prevalent and may be contributing greatly to some of the health and social problems being faced in this generation
The changes in behaviours as well as enzyme concentration could be due to various chemicals constituents in vulcanizer solutions
Sniffers of vulcanizer solutions may be highly susceptible to various diseases of the liver and other organs, and this may contribute enormously to the prevalence of liver diseases as being recently reported
Summary
The use of drugs and volatile substances among the youths in Nigeria has become prevalent and may be contributing greatly to some of the health and social problems being faced in this generation. There is an increased use of vulcanizer solutions among the youths in Wukari Taraba State and Nigeria as a whole which may results into some health problems in the general populace. According to [1], inhalants are volatile substances that produce chemical vapours that can be inhaled to induce a psychoactive or mind-altering effect. Inhalants are volatile substances that produce chemical vapours that can be inhaled to induce a psychoactive or. This definition encompasses a broad range of chemicals that may have different pharmacological and toxicological effects and are found in hundreds of different products which as a result make a precise categorization of inhalants somewhat difficult. Volatile solvents are liquids that vaporize at room temperature and are found in a multitude of inexpensive, available products used for common household and industrial purposes, which include paint thinners and removers, dry-cleaning fluids, degreasers, gasoline, glues (e.g. vulcanizer solutions), correction fluids and many more
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