Drug effects: Inhalants, UTC for healthcare professionals

Inhalants are gasses or volatile liquids, mainly for industrial use, which can provoke occupational exposure or involuntary intoxication. Even though the substances of this group have different pharmacodynamic characteristics, their route of administration is similar.

Those pursuing their psychoactive effects, like relaxation, pleasurable sensations, and quenching hunger, sniff these substances through the nose and mouth.

For a more efficient administration of the drug, people use multiple accessories known as paraphernalia (plastic bags, bottles, and soaked fibers and fabrics, among many others).

For a long time, the mechanism of action of inhalants was unknown. The initial assumption was that their solvent properties allowed them to modify the fluidity of the cellular membrane and affect many cell functions through nonspecific mechanisms. Nowadays, we know that chemicals such as benzene, trichloroethylene (TCE), xylene, and others, inhibit N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors (Cruz, 2000). Toluene also inhibits NMDA receptors and activates the inhibitory function of GABA-A receptors, which makes its mechanism of action like that of alcohol, but many times more potent (Bowen, 2006), causing alterations in the reward circuit.

People perceive the effects of intoxication by inhalants for a short time, then repeat and resume the administration for long periods, which favors hypoxia and, in some cases, death by asphyxia (Cruz, 2014), mainly when losing consciousness.

References

- Bowen, S., Batis, J., Paez-Martinez, N., & Cruz, M C. S. (2006). The last decade of solvent research in animal models of abuse: mechanistic and behavioral studies. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 28, 636 – 647.

- Cruz, M. C. S., Balster, R., & Woodward, J. (2000). Effects of volatile solvents on recombinant N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes. British Journal of Pharmacology, 131, 1303 – 1308.

- Cruz, M. C. S. (2014). Los efectos de las drogas: de sueños y pesadillas. D.F., México: Trillas.

Related topics

UTC for healthcare professionals

• - Neurobiology of Addiction: https://www.issup.net/node/7342
• - Classification of Drugs: https://www.issup.net/node/7521
• - Inhalants use during pregnancy: https://www.issup.net/node/8726
• - Cardiac arrhythmias due to inhalants use: https://www.issup.net/node/8739