Structure of the sensorimotor area of the cerebral cortex in the offspring of alcoholized rats.

Light and electron microscopy and morphometry were used to study the characteristics of the cytoarchitectonics of the sensorimotor cortex and the structures of neurons and their dendrites in 21- and 30-day-old baby rats born to chronically alcoholized females and males. Three categories of morphological changes were identified: signs of delayed maturation of neurons and dendrites, destructive changes to these structures, and signs of repair processes, with dynamics occurring during postnatal ontogenesis. At age three weeks, apart from delayed maturation of neurons and underdevelopment of the dendritic system, there were also spreading destructive changes. Increasing age was associated with increases in repair processes, though destructive changes to neurons persisted, which is evidence for the delayed action of alcohol intoxication of animals on the structural development of the brain in their offspring.