Neuroendocrine effects of styrene on occupationally exposed workers.

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The serum levels of prolactin (PRL), human growth hormone (HGH), TSH and the gonadotropins FSH and luteinizing hormone (LH) were measured in 30 females exposed .apprx. 130 (range 65-300) ppm of styrene in the air and in 30 age-matched referents to show whether styrene exposure influenced the dopaminergic tuberoinfundibular system (TIDA). The exposed subjects'' serum levels of PRL were > 2-fold the reference values and were significantly related to the urinary excretion of styrene metabolites, i.e., to the sum of mandelic acid (MA) and phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA) in the next-morning urine spot sample. Such a relationship still proved to be statistically significant after the removal of the effects of age and duration of exposure with the method of partial correlation. The serum concentrations of HGH in the exposed workers were also higher than in the reference group. Though within the reference levels, the TSH values of the exposed subjects were significantly related to the urinary excretion of MA and PGA. These results were consistent with the dose-dependent depletion in tuberoinfundibular dopamine after experimental styrene exposure of rabbits.