ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the toxicological and neurobehavioral effects of exposure to nerve agents and their medical treatment compounds, and provides particular emphasis to their impacts on performance and behavior, both immediate and long-term. Several of the drugs used as pharmacological countermeasures to reverse the potentially life-threatening physiological effects of nerve agents themselves have potent effects on a variety of neurobehavioral functions. The nerve agents are highly toxic organophosphorous compounds that are chemically related to some insecticides. The four most common nerve agents are tabun, sarin, soman, and VX. The toxicology and pharmacology of the nerve agents and the respective medical treatment drugs are addressed separately, representing distinctly different pharmacological classes of compounds and producing distinctly different effects on the central nervous system and performance. Exposure to nerve agents produces immediate and long-term effects on neurobehavioral function and performance that are dependent on the route and severity of exposure.
