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Published on: July 13, 2014
Prenatal ethanol exposure reduces parvalbumin-immunoreactive GABAergic neuronal number in the adult rat cingulate
D B Moore1, M A Quintero, A C Ruygrok
1Center for Alcohol Research, Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida College of Medicine and the University of Florida Brain Institute, Gainesville 32610, USA. moore@ufbi.ufl.edu
Abstract:
The effect of prenatal ethanol exposure on the number of parvalbumin-immunoreactive (PA+) GABAergic neurons in the adult rat anterior cingulate cortex was determined. Pregnant Long-Evans rats were maintained on one of three diets throughout gestation: an ethanol-containing liquid diet, a similar, control liquid diet with the isocaloric substitution of sucrose for ethanol, or a lab chow control diet. Offspring were euthanized on postnatal day 60 and brains were prepared for parvalbumin immunocytochemistry. Rats exposed to the ethanol-containing diet contained 45% fewer PA+ neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex compared with sucrose and chow controls. This reduction occurred in the absence of changes in structure volume, and occurred in the absence of changes in PA+ neuronal size.
