Effect of vulcanizer solution on the blood lipid profile of Wister albino rats

Inhalant abuse is a worldwide problem that is common especially in individuals from minority and marginalized populations, and is strongly correlated with the social determinants of health. The abuse of inhalants such as vulcanizer solutions among Nigerian youths, for the purpose of mind-alteration or getting high is on the increase at an alarming rate. These inhalants are pharmacologically diverse products that are selected for their low price, legal and widespread availability, and ability to rapidly induce euphoria. The aim of this research was to subject wistar albino rats to different vulcanizer solutions and investigate the possible effects of these solutions on the social behavior as well as significant changes in the concentrations of blood lipid profile parameters (TChol, TAG, HDL, and LDL). A commercial assay kit from Randox laboratories Ltd was used for the determination of the parameters. The acute effects of administration of the vulcanizer solution through inhalation on the High density lipoprotein level of albino rats showed that rats administered with Miliki diamond solution (group A) (1.1±0.04^a) and OSHN diamond solution (group D) (1.0 ±0.03^a) is statistically significant (p<0.05) having lower High density lipoprotein compared to the control group (E) (1.4±0.85^b). There was an increase in the level of total cholesterol in group D (OSHN diamond) (5.2±0.35^a) which is not statistically significant (P<0.05) compared to the control groups (E) (4.8±0.10^a). The results also showed a decrease in the level of low density lipoprotein in all test groups compared to the control group which is not statistically significant (P<0.05). On the chronic inhalation, there were significant increase (p<0.05) in the total Cholesterol level of group D animals (4.5±0.08^c) compared to the control group (4.3±0.29^b). There was neither an increase nor a decrease in the level of total cholesterol of the remaining groups which are not statistically significant (P<0.05) when compared to the control group. On HDL level, only OSHN diamond solution decreased the serum. Despite the increasing and decreasing effects of these solutions, they have been shown to be statistically not significant (p<0.05) when compared with those of the control. The changes seen in the behavior as well as blood lipid profile of the wistar albino rats could be attributed to the effects caused by the various chemical constituents (such as toluene, benzene, ethyl, etc) of vulcanizer solutions. Therefore, abusers of vulcanizer solutions may be susceptible to various cardiovascular diseases as well as diseases of the liver and other organs, thus adding to the number of people with the aforementioned diseases in this generation.