Influence of ethanol consumption on brain nerve growth factor and its target cells in developing and adult rodents

In the present study the effect of alcohol consumption on brain nerve growth factor (NGF) and the NGF-target cells of adult male rats and pups exposed prenatally to ethanol is evaluated. It is hypothesized that NGF, a trophic agent for the survival and maintenance of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, might be affected by the neurodegenerative events which occur during ethanol consumption. To test this hypothesis, we used adult rats exposed to ethanol for 16 weeks and pregnant rats exposed to ethanol for six days. Our experiments show that ethanol ingestion causes a reduction of NGF in the hippocampus, of choline acetyltransferase activity in both the septum and hippocampus, and in the distribution of NGF receptor in the basal forebrain cholinergic neurons. The results indicate that the damaging effect of alcohol on forebrain cholinergic neurons is also associated with impairment of central NGF-target structures.