ROLE OF NEURAL PLASTICITY IN CHEMICAL INTOLERANCE

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The New York Academy of Sciences is sponsoring a conference entitled: Role of Neural Plasticity in Chemical Intolerance in June 2000. The principal investigator and chair is Barbara Sorg, Ph.D., Washington State University. The co-chair is Iris Bell, M.D., Ph.D., Tucson Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Chemical intolerance (CI), also referred to as multiple chemical sensitivity, is a condition whereby individuals become increasingly sensitive to chemicals in the home and workplace. It is an emerging problem in environmental health. A wide variety of symptoms and severe illness from low-level chemical exposures have been reported in as high as 4-6% of the American population. Individuals with sensitivities to chemicals make an average of 23 health care provider visits per year. Thus, the economic impact of the CI condition and lack of treatment is potentially enormous. The main objective of the meeting is to gather neuroscientists from a variety of subdisciplines to discuss the potential mechanisms for the amplification of symptoms in individuals with CI. The meeting will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas in these subdisciplines in an effort to develop a series of testable hypotheses based upon the postulate that neural plasticity plays a role in the development of CI. While the primary focus of the meeting is on pre-clinical data, the program will also include scientists who will provide up-to-date information on the clinical aspects of CI. It is expected that these presentations by clinical and basic scientists will familiarize the audience with not only the primary clinical findings of CI but also basic biological findings related to neural plasticity as a potential critical link for mechanisms leading to CI in humans. The basic science findings will focus primarily on the cellular changes that mediate plasticity as well as alterations in brain pathways that regulate behavior. The findings will be integrated into a rationale for future basic research and clinical applications. Ultimately, the goal is to provide a greater understanding of the mechanism(s) of CI so that treatment strategies may be developed. The proceedings will be published as a volume in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences and will be distributed internationally.