Disordered Neurogenesis in Cortical and Subcortical Limbic System Structures in the Rat Brain in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Abstract

Neurogenesis was studied in the subcortical structures of the limbic system of the brain in the offspring of rats given ethanol during pregnancy. The following methods were used: examination of histological sections stained with cresyl violet, in vitro cultivation, and electron paramagnetic resonance. Prenatal intoxication with alcohol was found to induce impairments to the proliferative activity of cells in the granule layer of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and to the migration of neuro- and glioblasts, along with increased production of free NO and lipoperoxides and increased cell death, leading to changes in the number composition of neurons in cortical and subcortical structures and formation of fetal alcohol syndrome.