SNIFFING the vapour from glue, lighter fuel and other hydrocarbon solvents is one of the most widespread and damaging forms of substance abuse. Now the world’s first images of how an inhaled solvent spreads through the brain may help reveal why these substances are so addictive.
Stephen Dewey and his colleagues at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York looked at how toluene—found in paints, glues and other household products—travels through the brain. They exposed mice and baboons to toluene labelled with a radioactive isotope, carbon-11, and then used PET scans to follow the chemical’s path.
Dewey expected the…
