ABSTRACT
The effect of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and lactation on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in different rat brain regions of 3-week-old pups was investigated. There was a significant decrease in the thalamus, pons, cerebellum and hippocampus, no change in posterior colliculus, occipital cortex, temporal cortex, hypothalamus, septum or striatum and a significant increase in frontal cortex, olfactory bulbs, anterior colliculus and amygdala. These modifications could be a consequence of alterations in membrane permeability and may be related to the behavioural disorders associated with the fetal-alcohol syndrome.
Subject(s)
Brain Chemistry/drug effects , Ethanol/adverse effects , Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects , gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/analysis , Animals , Body Weight/drug effects , Brain/pathology , Disease Models, Animal , Female , Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders/pathology , Organ Size/drug effects , Pregnancy , Rats , Rats, Inbred StrainsABSTRACT
In the European hamster, Cricetus cricetus, a common hibernator, over a year, the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) content has been followed, in the cytosolic and crude synaptosomal fractions of the olfactory bulbs, hypothalamus and cerebellum. In these 3 areas, the GABA content shows circannual variations of endogenous origin: in this period, in both fractions two peaks can be observed, at the beginning of spring and in autumn. These circannual variations do not follow the circannual variation of food intake or body weight.