Dose-dependent decrease in glial fibrillary acidic protein-immunoreactivity in rat cerebellum after lifelong ethanol consumption.
The effects of aging and lifelong ethanol consumption on astrocytic morphology and glial fibrillary acidic protein-immunoreactivity (GFAP-IR) in the cerebellar vermis obtained from ethanol-preferring Alko, Alcohol (AA) rats were analyzed by using computer-assisted image analysis. The ethanol-consuming animals (both male and female) were given ethanol (10%-12%, vol./vol.) as the only available fluid for 21 months (3-24 months), whereas the young (3 months) and the old (24 months) controls received water. In the male rats, but not in the female rats, an age-related decrease in GFAP-IR was found in folia II, VII, and X of the molecular layer, and in turn, an age-related increase was found in folium X of the granular layer, indicating opposite changes in GFAP-IR for male rats due to aging in adjacent brain regions. In the female rats, 21 months of daily average ethanol consumption of 6.6 g/kg resulted in decreased GFAP-IR in folium VII of the molecular layer, and the decrease in cerebellar GFAP-IR correlated with the average daily ethanol intake (r=-.886, P=.019) when folia II, IV, VII, and X were analyzed together. No effect of ethanol on GFAP-IR was detected in the granular layer or in the central white matter of the female rats. There was no change in GFAP-IR in any of the three cerebellar layers of the male rats with average daily ethanol consumption of 3.2 g/kg. These results indicate that the Bergmann glial fibers are the GFAP-expressing structures of the cerebellum most sensitive to moderate-to-heavy chronic ethanol exposure and that this effect is dose dependent.
The School of Public Health, University of Tampere, FIN-33700, Tampere, Finland. mejyri@uta.fi
J
J
Rintala
P
P
Jaatinen
K
K
Kiianmaa
J
J
Riikonen
O
O
Kemppainen
M
M
Sarviharju
A
A
Hervonen
D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats
D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D000431:Ethanol