Mechanism of histopathological changes of nerve cells experimentally induced by chronic alcohol poisoning.

SUMMARY Experimental alcoholism was produced in rats by supplying them with 15% ethanol as the only source of liquid for a whole year. Histopathological examination revealed that Purkinje cells and granule cells in the cerebellum mainly showed such changes as decrease of ER, ribosomes and severe atrophy of the nerve cells. It might be speculated that these changes were caused by the disturbance of protein synthesis in the nerve cells induced by chronic alcohol effect.