Bäckman C, West J R, Mahoney J C, Palmer M R
Neuroscience Program, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1998 Aug;22(5):1137-45.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the spontaneous activity of mature rat cerebellar neurons that had been exposed to ethanol (EtOH) during postnatal days 4 to 10, which corresponds to the third trimester in humans. Newborn Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with gastric feeding tubes and were artificially reared from postnatal days 4 to 10 with two different diets. The experimental group received 4.5 g/kg/day of EtOH delivered in a milk solution. Controls received similar feeding with an isocaloric supplement replacing the EtOH. Electrophysiological evaluations were performed after an EtOH-free rearing period. Although lobules IX and X of the cerebellar vermis appeared morphologically smaller in the animals neonatally exposed to EtOH, compared with controls, extracellular recordings from both Purkinje cells and Golgi interneurons in adult rats showed no differences in spontaneous activity or firing pattern between the control and EtOH-exposed animals. Similarly, excitations and inhibitions of Purkinje neuron activity evoked by parallel pathway stimulation appeared unaffected by the developmental EtOH exposure. However, we did observe a significant decrease in the proportion of Purkinje neurons generating complex spike bursts in the group exposed to EtOH neonatally. These data suggest that, although fewer Purkinje neurons may survive the brain growth spurt if exposed to EtOH during this critical period of development, those that do survive appear to function normally. The observed abnormality in complex spike production may result from EtOH effects on developing neurons in the inferior olive that give rise to the climbing fibers that cause this bursting pattern in Purkinje neurons.
本研究的目的是调查在出生后第4至10天暴露于乙醇（EtOH）的成熟大鼠小脑神经元的自发活动，这一时期相当于人类的妊娠晚期。新生的Sprague-Dawley大鼠植入胃饲管，并在出生后第4至10天用两种不同的饮食进行人工饲养。实验组接受以乳溶液形式提供的4.5 g/kg/天的EtOH。对照组接受类似的喂养，用等热量补充剂替代EtOH。在无EtOH饲养期后进行电生理评估。虽然与对照组相比，新生期暴露于EtOH的动物小脑蚓部的小叶IX和X在形态上显得较小，但成年大鼠浦肯野细胞和高尔基中间神经元的细胞外记录显示，对照组和暴露于EtOH的动物在自发活动或放电模式上没有差异。同样，平行通路刺激引起的浦肯野神经元活动的兴奋和抑制似乎不受发育性EtOH暴露的影响。然而，我们确实观察到，新生期暴露于EtOH的组中产生复合尖峰爆发的浦肯野神经元比例显著下降。这些数据表明，尽管在这个关键的发育时期暴露于EtOH可能会使较少的浦肯野神经元在脑发育快速期存活下来，但那些存活下来的神经元似乎功能正常。观察到的复合尖峰产生异常可能是由于EtOH对下橄榄中发育中的神经元的影响，这些神经元产生的攀缘纤维导致浦肯野神经元出现这种爆发模式。
