Analysis of apical spine distribution across Sholl rings revealed significant main effects of treatment at the 50, 100 and 150 μm Sholl ring ((F(2,29) = 5.1, p<0.05), (F(2,29) = 9.3, p<0.05), (F(2,28) = 3.8, p<0.05), respectively) (see Figure 6). Tukey’s HSD post hoc tests indicated significant reductions in apical spine density in the ET group compared to both IC and NC groups at 50 μm and 100 μm and compared to the IC group only at 150 μm (Tukey’s HSD, p’s<0.05). There was also a significant main effect of sex at the 50 μm Sholl ring (F (1, 29) =9.3, p<0.05) due to increased spines in females (see Figure 7) but no interaction of sex with treatment. Ethanol exposure did not produce any significant changes in spine distribution on basilar dendrites (data not shown).
