Fig. 4

Postnatal alcohol exposure (PAE) increases cytokine expression in the cerebellar vermis. a Animals were exposed to alcohol from P3–5 for 4 h daily (10 a.m. to 2 p.m., represented by green lines). Expression of cytokines was measured by RT-PCR throughout the exposure. Time points during peak blood alcohol levels were collected on P3 (I) and P5 (III). Time points during withdrawal periods were collected on P4 (II) and P6 (IV) and are also indicated by gray shading in panels b–e. Effect of PAE on interleukin-1β (IL-1β, b), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα, c), transforming growth factor β (TGFβ, d), and interleukin-10 (IL10, e) in the cerebellar vermis. For more details on the time course of the blood alcohol concentrations, please see Fig 1e. To address if effects were persistent, P11–13 was also included. Threshold cycle values (CT) were normalized to hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1(HPRT1), and each individual value was normalized with respect to the average of the P3 air controls (see the “Materials and Methods” section). (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001). n = 8 animals from 8 litters