Neurotoxicology: what the neurologist needs to know

Whatever our private thoughts on the expression and exploitation of these fears, we tend to forget that the most complete text on experimental and clinical neurotoxicology lists more than 350 compounds (synthetic and naturally occurring) known to cause functional or structural damage to the nervous system. 1 We should also note that a recent survey of the body load of a number of toxic chemicals in human subjects revealed widespread accumulation of a number of known toxins of considerable clinical interest, including organochlorines, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethylene (DDE), 2 and the continuing concern of many people over the perceived neurological damage caused, for example, by participation in military operations in the Gulf. [...]cells with long processes are vulnerable to attack at numerous sites-cell body, dendrites, axon, myelin sheath, node, terminal synaptic expansion, etc. [...]the mature nervous system is remarkably vulnerable to toxin induced damage, and because any damage may disrupt the extensive communication systems that characterise the brain, neurotoxins have the capacity to affect gait and posture, the special senses, behaviour and cognition, and produce a complex pattern of clinical signs and symptoms.