Reduced Seizure Threshold and Hippocampal Cell Loss in Rats Exposed to Alcohol During the Brain Growth Spurt

Abstract

These findings demonstrate that exposure of the developing brain to alcohol can permanently reduce the threshold for both behavioral and electrographic seizures and can selectively kill hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells. Both the pathologic findings and the physiologic recordings support the concept that the reduced seizure threshold in alcohol-exposed animals is due to hippocampal pathology.