[DYNAMICS OF HISTOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE FRONTAL CORTEX OF THE BRAIN OF RATS SUBJECTED TO PRENATAL ALCOHOL.EXPOSURE]

The purpose of the present investigation was a comparative study of the effect of prenatal exposure to alcohol on the histological characteristics of neurons in the frontal cortex of the rats of different ages. The study was conducted on 175 outbred albino rats — the offspring of 25 females given a 15% solution of ethanol as a source of drinking throughout pregnancy. The cortex was examined at Days 2–90 after birth using histological, histochemical and morphometric methods. An increase (Days 2, 5), followed by the reduction (Days 10 and 90) of the thickness of the cortex and the size of neurons (Days 20–90) were detected, together with the decrease in the number of neurons in layer V of the cortex, reduction of the number of normochromic and an increase of the number of shrunken hyperchromic neurons and ghost cells in all study periods. Antenatal alcoholization was found to cause a variety of histological changes in the frontal cortex of rat brain in postnatal ontogenesis that had a long-term and progressive nature.