This is the first study to report on dendritic measures in the NAC following developmental ethanol exposure. In contrast to the findings in mPFC, most measures of dendritic morphology were unaffected in the NAC. Ethanol-exposed females did show an increase in dendritic branches in the 150 μm Sholl ring relative to controls but this is a modest effect that was not shown at any other point. Further, neither the core nor shell of the NAC had any ethanol-induced cell loss. In contrast, chronic ethanol exposure in adults has previously been reported to produce significant reductions in density and an increase in atypical spine morphologies in the NAC (Zhou et al., 2007). However, simple interpretation of current findings suggests that the NAC is not vulnerable to direct effects of ethanol exposure during development.
