Morphological alterations in hippocampus after long-term alcohol consumption in mice.

Golgi methods were used to examine the hippocampus of laboratory mice that received alcohol-containing or control diets for 4 months followed by a 2-month alcohol-free period. Long-term alcohol consumption resulted in a significant loss of dendritic spines on hippocampal pyramidal cells and dentate granule cells. This study provides evidence that long-term alcohol consumption, in the absence of malnutrition, produces morphological damage to the central nervous system.