Regarding the comments on toluene uptake - while the liver does
"try" to detoxify toluene, it's unfortunate that cytochrome P450 manages to
produce even more toxic compounds in the process, such as phenols and
/or arene epoxides. Many carcinogens would not act as such in the
body were they not first activated by "liver detoxification".
This is not quite to the point of the original posting on brain
chemistry, just a warning to be careful with chemicals like toluene
anyway, not rely on "liver detoxification" to take care of the problem
in case you ingest some.
Annette
dexter at aries.scs.uiuc.edu
