Ultrastructure of the sensorimotor cortex of pubertal offspring of alcoholic male rats.

The ultrastructure of neurons, astrocytes, and capillaries in the sensorimotor cortex of three-month-old offspring of alcoholic male rats (8 g/kg of 50% alcohol solution daily for four weeks) was studied. Apart from signs of delayed maturation of nerve and glial cell processes, some cortical areas showed destructive changes affecting a proportion of neurons along with elements of compensatory-adaptive processes in some nerve cells. Membrane and myelin-like intranuclear inclusions and changes in the Golgi complex were characteristic features of the damage to populations of cortical neurons. Swelling of astrocytes, deformation of capillaries and changes in their ultrastructure, with accumulation of atypical inclusions in pericapillary astrocyte processes, degraded reciprocal exchange processes between blood and neurons. The possible role of the ischemic-hypoxic factor in delayed changes in the ultrastructure of the sensorimotor cortex in the offspring of alcoholic males is discussed.