Ethanol consumption, pregnancy, off spring, frontal cortex, neuronsТhe aim of the paper was to estimate histologically the consequences of alcohol consumption by rats during pregnancy on the brain co rte x neurons development in their offspring. Female Wistar rats consumed a 15% solution of ethanol as a single source of drinking (4.64±2.19 g/kg/day) throughout pregnancy, control rats received aquivolume amount of water. The offspring were decapitated on the 2-, 5-, 10-, 20-, 45-, and 90th day after birth and samples of frontal brain cortex were prepared for microscopy histology, histochemistry and electron microscopy. Results: Antenatal alcohol exposure in rats increased, and then reduced the brain cortex thickness, the decrease being noted in the relative amount of brain cortex neurons and the increase in the number of their pathological forms in all time periods of the examination. Electron microscopy showed a significant reduction in the number of mitochondria per um2 of cytoplasm and the total length of their cristae, reduction of the rough endoplasmic reticulum canal length and their clearance expansion, decrease in the bind ribosomes and increase in the free ribosomes number, expansion of the Golgi apparatus cisternae, increase in the lysosome number and size in the cytoplasm of neurons. The histochemical examination revealed the inhibition of NADH-, NADPhH, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenases as well as activation of lactate dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase. Antenatal alcoholization led to the decrease in the expression of synaptophisin (marker of synaptogenesis) and retarded the maturation of neurons in the frontal cortex, which resulted in the increase in the expression of double cortin, and decrease in the expression of neuronal nuclear antigen. Conclusion: Alcohol consumption by rats during pregnancy induces deep and long-term histological, histochemical, immune histochemical and electron microscopy changes in the brain cortex neurons in postnatal ontogenesis in rat offspring, including early swelling and postpone shrinkage and cessation of growth of brain cortex neurons
