Journal Article

Ethanol Inhibits NMDA-Activated Ion Current in Hippocampal Neurons

White, Geoffrey, Lovinger, David M., Weight, Forrest F.

1989

Overview

The ion current induced by the glutamate receptor agonist N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) in voltage-clamped hippocampal neurons was inhibited by ethanol (EtOH). Inhibition increased in a concentration-dependent manner over the range 5 to 50 mM, a range that also produces intoxication. The amplitude of the NMDA-activated current was reduced 61 percent by 50 mM EtOH; in contrast, this concentration of EtOH reduced the amplitude of current activated by the glutamate receptor agonists kainate and quisqualate by only 18 and 15 percent, respectively. The potency for inhibition of the NMDA-activated current by several alcohols is linearly related to their intoxicating potency, suggesting that alcohol-induced inhibition of responses to NMDA receptor activation may contribute to the neural and cognitive impairments associated with intoxication.

• Publisher: The American Association for the Advancement of Science,American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subject: 1-Butanol / Agonists / Alcohol / Alcohol use / Alcohol, Denatured / Alcoholic beverages / Alcoholic intoxication / Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning / Aspartic Acid - analogs & derivatives / Aspartic Acid - pharmacology / Biochemistry / Biological and medical sciences / Butanols - pharmacology / Calcium Channels - drug effects / Calcium Channels - physiology / Central nervous system / Chloride Channels / Chlorides - physiology / Cognitive ability / Electric Conductivity / Electric current / Ethanol / Ethanol - adverse effects / Ethanol - pharmacology / gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - pharmacology / Hippocampus (Brain) / Hippocampus - cytology / Hippocampus - physiology / Humans / Inhibitory concentration 50 / Ion channels / Ion Channels - drug effects / Ion Channels - physiology / Ion currents / Kainic Acid - pharmacology / Medical sciences / Membrane Proteins - physiology / Methanol - pharmacology / Methyl aspartate / N-methyl-D-aspartate / N-Methylaspartate / Nervous system / Neurons / Neurons - physiology / Neurotransmitter receptors / Oxadiazoles - pharmacology / Pentanols - pharmacology / Physiological aspects / Quisqualic Acid / Receptors, Glutamate / Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Receptors, Neurotransmitter - drug effects / Receptors, Neurotransmitter - physiology / Sodium Channels - drug effects / Sodium Channels - physiology / Toxicology / Voltage-clamp technique (Electrophysiology)