Lesion-induced sprouting in the rat dentate gyrus is inhibited by repeated ethanol administration.
The effect of ethanol on hippocampal axonal sprouting was studied with a histochemical technique for identifying acetylcholinesterase. Unilateral lesion of the entorhinal cortex in adult rats produced an increase in the density of acetylcholinesterase staining in the outer molecular layer and a concomitant increase in the width of the pale-staining commissural-associational zone of the dentate gyrus. Other rats were given ethanol (11.3 +/- 0.45 grams per kilogram) for 2 weeks before and 9 days after receiving the lesion. Ethanol abolished the expansion of the commissural-associated zone. The effect of ethanol on sprouting axons suggests that it may inhibit recovery of function after brain injury.
D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D000431:Ethanol