Ultrastructure of neurons of the sensorimotor cortex in progeny of rats receiving alcohol during pregnancy.

We have studied the dynamics of ultrastructural changes in the neurons of the sensorimotor cortex on days 21, 30, and 60 of life in offspring of rats given 20% alcohol (2 g/kg) during pregnancy. Moderate antenatal alcoholization leads to certain disturbances in the ultrastructure of the cortical neurons and their dendrites. This is manifested as the presence of signs of retardation in the maturation of nervous cell populations as dystrophic changes in the neurons and their dendrites, and as display of the repair character with their own dynamics in the postnatal period of ontogenesis. The first two categories of the ultrastructural changes in the cortical neurons become more manifest at early stages of postnatal development of the offspring, and the repair processes at the age of two months. Despite the presence of the repair shifts, the dystrophic changes in the neurons of a hypoxic nature are present up to the period of sexual maturation. This shows that the antenatal alcoholic intoxication in the offspring is manifested in postnatal ontogenesis for a long period.