DISRUPTION OF SYNAPTOGENESIS IN THE RATS BRAIN CORTEX AFTER ANTENATAL ALCOHOLISATION

Abstract

Background. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy induces the development of a number of specific disorders in offspring that are combined under the term Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), which is a part of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The aim of this study was to assess the effect of antenatal alcoholisation on synaptogenesis in the inner pyramidal layer of the frontal cerebral cortex of rats in postnatal ontogenesis. Material and methods: experiments were performed on 12 female white rats and their offspring, using immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy methods. Results: antenatal alcoholisation leads to decrease in the expression of the marker of synaptic vesicles, synaptophysin, disruption of the synapse ultrastructure, and a decrease in the number of synaptic vesicles. Conclusions: antenatal alcoholisation leads to disruption of synaptogenesis in the inner pyramidal layer of the frontal cerebral cortex of the rat.

Keywords

• antenatal alcoholisation
• cerebral cortex
• synaptophysin