Maternal alcohol consumption before pregnancy and ultrastructure of neurons and interneuronal connections in rat offspring.

The ultrastructure of neurons and interneuronal connections in sensorimotor cortex have been studied in the offspring at 14- and 21-day-old female rats damaged by alcohol intoxication before pregnancy. We found three categories of ultrastructural changes in cortical neurons and interneuronal connections: delayed maturation of these structures, dystrophic and destructive changes and a signs of compensatory-adaptive processes. The first two categories of neuronal changes more marked at 14 days after birth. Later compensatory-adaptive changes become more significant, but dystrophic and destructive neuronal changes still remained. It is believed, that prenatal hypoxia-ischemia following alcohol consumption by female rats before pregnancy plays an important role in the pathogenesis of alcohol damage in cortical neurons and interneuronal connections in the offspring.