Maternal ingestion of alcohol produce not only change of drug metabolism but also proliferation of hepatic smooth endoplasmic reticulum and many developmental defects of the central nervous system.

The present investigation examined the effects of maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy and/or lactation the activities of electron transfer components, mixed function monooxygenase, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase and lipid peroxidation of neonatal rat liver microsomes. Normal group consisted of neonatal rats whose mothers received standard chow and water. The subject of experimental group were neonatal rats whose mothers were exposed to alcohol during pregnancy and lactation(3 weeks).

The results were obtained as follows :

The activities of the electron transfer system, such as cytochrome P-450, NADPH-cytochrome C reductase were increased in hepatic microsomes of experimental group.

The activities of the mixed function monooxygenase, p-nitroanisole-O-demethylase and the conjugated enzyme, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase were increased in hepatic microsomal experimental group. There was no significant differences between the formation of lipid peroxide of normal and experimental group.

These results suggest that prenatal exposure to alcohol are influenced by disturb of liver microsomal drug metabolism, especially during the fetal period.

The present study was performed to identify the dopaminergic receptor sites in rat amygdala. Identification of the receptor sites at ultrastructrual level has been done by autoradiography after cerebral ventricular perfusion of ³H-haloperidol.

From 434 examples of silver grains, 5% were labeled in soma, 36% in thick dendrites, 26% in the thin branches of axons and dendrites, 21% in thick axons and terminals and 12% in synapses with synaptic vesicles. In the cases of labeled synapses, all of axon terminals contained small round vesicles and showed asymmetric contact with dendrites. By these results it may be implied that dopamine receptors in the amygdala are located in both pre-and post-synaptic sites of the asymmetric axo-dendritic synapses with small round vesicles and the axons of labeled synapses originated from the dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain.

The distribution of serotonin-2 receptors in the rat brain was studied by light microscopic autoradiography, using [³H]ketanserin as a ligand. The serotonin-2 receptor densities were quantified by an actual count of labeled silver grains from the tissue preparations. A heterogeneous distribution of serotonin-2 receptor densities was found in the rat brain. High concentrations of serotonin-2 receptors were localized over the superior colliculus, neostriatum, amygdaloid complex and mammillary body. Intermediate concentrations were found over the dentate gyrus and visual cortex(area 17). Low densities were found over the substantia nigra and olfactory tubercie. The observations made in this study indicate that the anatomical distribution of serotonin-2 receptor is in accord with the distribution of serotoninergic innervation and the densities of serotonin-2 preceptor are differences in brain area of rat.

In the neostriatum of mammals the neurons and synapses discriminated into several types at the base of their morphological characteristics. A number of neurons are interneuron but some of neurons project efferent fibers to the pallidum, substantia nigra or thalamus. While the neostriatum receive the afferent fibers from cerebral cortex, thalamus, substantia nigra and nucleus raphe dorsalis. The present experiment was performed to identify the corticostriatal synapses in the rat neostriatum after cortical ablation. The results obtained could be summarized as follows: 1) From the rat 2 day after cortical ablation, in the neostriatum some of axon terminals with small round vesicles appeared that synaptic vesicles are variety in size and crowded toward the synaptic thickening. 2) From the rat 3 and 5 day after cortical ablation some of asymmetric synapses with small round vesicles were an increased electron density of the whole axon terminal and the vesicles and the mitochondria formed all ill-defined mass. From these results it may be assumed that the axon terminals of corticostriatal fiber in the rat neostriatum make up the asymmetric axospinous synapses with small round vesicles.

The caudate nucleus of the guinea pig was examined at the ultrastructural level. At least four types of neurons and seven types of synapses are distinguished. The large polygonal neurons are measured 18-25µm in diameter and have large amount of cytoplasm with many stacks of granular endoplasmic reticulum, concentrations of ribosomes, and rich Golgi cisternae. The medium-sized, ovoid neurons are the most frequent cells. These neurons are measured 10-15µm in diameter and contain a lot of organelles. The medium-sized, polygonal neurons are measured 11-18µm in diameter. These cells have cytoplasm with moderate amount of granular endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi cisternae. The small neurons are the least common never cells in the caudate nucleus. They have a nucleus with indentations, little Golgi apparatus and few cisternae of granular endoplasmic reticulum. The axon terminals containing small round vesicles are the most frequent type of synapses. The majority of them make asymmetric contact on dendritic spines of neurons. Some of remainders make symmetric contact with dendrites and somata and others asymmetric contact with the same structures. Few of terminals 'en passant' with small round vesicles contact on dendrites and somata. The terminals containing elongated vesicles contact symmetrically on the dendrits and somata. All of the terminals containing pleomorphic or large round vesicles make synapses in the same manner of elongated vesicle terminal.

This study provides a description of the normal morphology of the synapses of the locus coeruleus in the squirrel monkey, Saimiri sciureus, at the electron microscopic level. The animals were perfused with 2% glutaraldehyde-1% paraformaldehyde fixative in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4. Tissues from the locus coeruleus were postfixed by 2% osmium tetroxide in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4, and dehydrated in graded ethanol and aceton, and embedded in Epon 812. The polymerization was carried out in oven at 60℃. The ultrathin sections were cut on a LKB ultratome, contrasted with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and examined in a Siemens Elmiskop 1A electron microscope. Special attention during the observation was given to the different types of synapses. Five types of synapses with many characteristics, could be differentiated : small-round vesicle terminals(52%), pleomorphic vesicle terminals(25%), elongated vesicle terminals(16%), small-round and dense core vesicle terminals(5%) and large-round vesicle terminals(2%). Some of the axosomatic synapses with small round or pleomorphic vesicles make an indirect contact to the soma by somatic appendages.

The present study was done to define the morphological characteristics of nenurons in the rat neostriatum. The rats were perfused with 1% paraformaldehyde and 2% glutaraldehyde fixative in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4. Tissues from caudate nucleus were postfixed with 2% osmium tetroxide in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4. and dehydrated in graded ethanol and aceton, and embedded in Epon 812. The polymerization was carried out in a 60℃ oven. The ultrathin sections were contrasted with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and examined with a Siemens Elmiskop IA. Four morphologically differenttypes of neurons were classified. (1) The large neurons were often elongated or spindle shapes, measured 25~30µm in diameter. They had an indented nucleus and contained large amount of cytoplasm with many stacks of granular endoplasmic reticulum, concentration of ribosomes and rich Golgi cisternae. (2) The medium-sized, polygonal neurons were pyramid or polygonal shapes, measured 14~20µm in diameter. All neurons of this type had a spherical, unindented nucleus and moderate cytoplasm of pale cytoplasm with relatively small amount of granular endoplasmic reticulum and riboromes. (3) The medium sized, ovoid neurons were the most common neostriatal cells. These neurons were ovoid or spherical shapes, measured 12~20µm in diameter. They contained small quantities of Golgi cister in the dark cytoplasm. (4) The small neurons were the least common cells in the striatum. They had a distinctive nucleus, usually with a single indentation and contained little Glogi apparatus and few cisternae of granular endoplasmic reticulum.

The present study was performed to evaluate the histochemical properties of epithelial mucins in diseased gallbladders.

18 gallbladder specimens were selected in which metaplastic goblet cells had been observed. Of the specimens 9 were gallstone and 9 cholecystitis.

For microscopic examination, tissues were sectioned at a thickness 5µm, and were stained with following histochemical techniques: Alcian blue at pH 1.0 or 2.5 and periodic acid Schiff's reaction (PAS).

Observed results were as follows:

1) In ordinary gallbladder the epithelial cells showed a predominance of sulphated mucosubstance.

2) In many case of cholelithiasis a typical goblet-typed epithelial cells were found in the top of folds. In large goblet cell area the relative proportion of sulphated acid mucin decreased and correspondingly non-sulphated acid mucin increased.

3) In the case of cholecystitis the intracellular mucin of high columnar epithelium predominated in the deep area of folds.

4) The neutral mucin predominated in the surface epithelium of gallbladder under pathological condition.