Behavioral and neuroendocrine effects of diethyl ether exposure in the mouse.

Diethyl ether has diverse behavioral effects and is known for its ability to stimulate stress hormones, yet little is known of the concentrations in which these effects occur. To more fully characterize these effects, adult male NIH mice were exposed to a range of concentrations of ether (1000-30000 ppm) in an inhalation chamber and both behavioral and neuroendocrine responses were assessed. When responding was maintained under FI-60 s schedules of milk presentation, 30-min exposures to 1000 ppm ether resulted in minimal behavioral effects, 3000-10000 ppm increased rates of responding over two-fold and higher concentrations decreased responding almost completely. Five-min exposures to the same range of concentrations resulted in concentration-related effects which were smaller than those produced by 30-min exposures. Exposure to a similar range of concentrations in naive mice increased adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone levels in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Five-min exposures to 10000 ppm ether increased levels of ACTH from a baseline of 25.95 pg/ml to 310.5 pg/ml but did not affect corticosterone. Thirty-min exposures to the full range of concentrations of ether, increased corticosterone from control levels of 70 ng/ml to 418 ng/ml at 30000 ppm, and increased ACTH from control levels of 19.13 pg/ml to 80.5 pg/ml at 30000 ppm, in a concentration-dependent manner. The increase in ACTH for 30-min exposures was not as large as that observed for 5-min exposures at 10000 ppm, nor was it as large as that seen for corticosterone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)