Morphological recovery of hippocampal pyramidal neurons in the adult rat exposed in utero to ethanol.

Reduced numbers of dendritic spines on the secondary apical dendritic branches and basilar dendrites of CA1 and CA3 pyramidal neurons were observed in ethanol-treated rats during embryonic life aged 15 days when compared with age-matched controls. However, differences were no longer present at the age of 90 days. These results suggest that recovery of some morphological parameters of pyramidal hippocampal neurons may occur in rats exposed in utero to ethanol.