Figure 1.

A rat undergoing complex motor training. This training consists of prodding the rat to traverse an elevated course with multiple obstacles and challenges without falling off. Each rat runs the course five times per day for 12 days, and each run is timed. Over time, the rat will learn to traverse the course in less time without falling. Such motor training experiences during adulthood stimulate connections between nerve cells in animals that received alcohol during the early postnatal period (i.e., during the brain growth spurt). The resulting improved performance on the obstacle course suggests a potential intervention that may attenuate the severity of developmental alcohol–induced brain injury.

SOURCE: Photograph courtesy of Dr. Anna Klintsova, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York.