Therapeutic effects of complex motor training on motor performance deficits induced by neonatal binge-like alcohol exposure in rats: II. A quantitative stereological study of synaptic plasticity in female rat cerebellum

Twenty days of complex motor skill training in adult rats was previously demonstrated to rehabilitate motor performance deficits induced by binge alcohol exposure in neonatal rats. This follow-up study evaluated morphological plasticity in the paramedian lobule of the cerebellum (PML) using the same treatment and training regimens. On postnatal days (PD) 4-9, female Long-Evans rats were given either alcohol (Alcohol Exposure - AE, 4.5 g/kg/day via artificial rearing), exposure to gastrostomy control (GC) artificial rearing procedures, or reared normally as suckle controls (SC). After weaning, all rats were housed two to three per cage. At 180 days old, rats were randomly assigned either to a rehabilitation condition (RC: given 20 days of complex motor skill training), or to an inactive condition (IC: remained in their home cage). The AE rats were delayed in acquiring the training, but there were no group differences in performance over the last 2 weeks of training. Unbiased stereological techniques were used to evaluate PML volume, Purkinje cell and parallel fiber synapse density. Although total volume of PML was significantly reduced in the AE rats, complex motor skill training resulted in a significant increase in the PML molecular layer in all three postnatal treatment groups. The RC animals from the SC and AE groups had more parallel fiber synapses per Purkinje cell than corresponding IC animals. These data support the hypothesis that 'rehabilitative' motor training stimulates synaptogenesis in the PML, and that Purkinje neurons that survive the early postnatal alcohol insult are capable of substantial experience-induced plasticity. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.