Alteration of benzodiazepine receptors in mouse cerebellum following methylazoxymethanol treatment during development.

The specific binding of [3H]flunitrazepam was studied to biochemically specify the morphological alterations induced in mouse cerebellum by a single injection of an antimitotic agent, methylazoxymethanol (MAM) performed at the beginning of the postnatal life. The MAM injection causes a general reduction of the benzodiazepine receptors in the adult mice which is particularly severe in mice having been injected the 1st day of postnatal life (so-called MAM0 mice) as compared to animals injected the 5th day (MAM5 mice): in MAM0 mice the benzodiazepine receptor is reduced to half of the control value. The affinity of the benzodiazepine towards its receptor was not affected and the topographic and biochemical action of MAM in the central nervous system was ascertained. Correlations could be made between the biochemical modifications and the morphological alterations otherwise described.