Prenatal ethanol effects on NGF level, NPY and ChAT immunoreactivity in mouse entorhinal cortex: a preliminary study

It has been reported that maternal ethanol consumption leads to deficits in the limbic areas involved in cognitive functions and interferes with synthesis and utilization of neurotrophins. In the present study, it was hypothesized that prenatal alcohol intake might induce neuroanatomical alterations in the entorhinal cortex (EC). We also investigated the possible EC involvement of brain nerve growth factor (NGF), the first neurotrophin to be isolated, during such pathological events. To test this hypothesis, we used pregnant mice exposed to ethanol during EC neurogenesis (starting about gestational day 8). Our data show that prenatal alcohol intake in male mice alters the EC neuronal growth and differentiation. These morphological alterations are accompanied by an altered NGF level in the EC of prenatal alcohol-treated mice. We also found a decrease in choline acetyltransferase- and neuropeptide Y-immunopositive neurons in the EC of alcohol-exposed mice. However, the relationship between neuronal damage induced in the EC by ethanol, low presence of NGF, and the possible functional and behavioral consequences remains to be elucidated.