A tissue culture model of methyl ethyl ketone's potentiation of n-hexane neurotoxicity

Recent clinical and experimental animal studies indicate that methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), a widely used industrial solvent, can potentiate hexacarbon neurotoxicity. Organotypic tissue cultures, consisting of fetal mouse spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, and muscle were used to reproduce this interaction. Cultures exposed to mixtures of MEK and neurotoxic doses of n-hexane developed giant axonal swellings more rapidly than those treated with equivalent doses of n-hexane alone. Cultures exposed to 'no-response' doses of n-hexane in combination with MEK also developed axonal swellings. In addition, occasional cultures exposed to high levels of MEK alone and in certain combinations with n-hexane developed intra-axonal inclusions which were identified by electron microscopy to be foci of axoplasmic debris.