[Delayed cerebellar histogenesis in "embryofetal alcohol syndrome". Light microscopic study of the rat cerebellum (author's transl)].

The cerebellar postnatal development of young rats (Wistar) was investigated, whose mothers were given a 12% (W/V) ethyl alcohol solution for 7 days before and during pregnancy. Besides weighing less at birth, the experimental animals had a slower postnatal linear growth and gained weight less rapidly. Histological examination of the cerebellum showed an inpeded histogenesis, which could be observed in the Purkinje cells up to the 10th postnatal day. Moreover, a thick layer of embryonal granular cells with numerous mitoses could still be seen in the experimental animals at 3 weeks of age. After 30 days there was no histological difference between the controls and experimental animals. Because the Purkinje cells in the developing cerebellum represent the units were ribosomes are most abundant, it seems appropriate to ask, whether the observed inhibition of histogenesis could derived from an impaired cerebral protein synthesis. Disturbance of organogenesis was observed in three experimental animals afflicted with an extreme internal hydrocephalus.