Figure 3. Acute Alcohol Attenuation of NMDA Response is Not Observed After 7-Days of Alcohol Exposure.
Whole-cell patch clamp recordings from neurons derived from a non-alcohol dependent subject. (A) Example of the time course illustrating the inhibition of the NMDA response by acute alcohol exposure (50 mM) in a naïve neuron. (B) Example of the lack of effect of alcohol on NMDA receptors following 7-day exposure to 50 mM alcohol. (C) Group data for the effect of acute alcohol which significantly reduced the amplitude of the NMDA response (n=8, paired t-test, p= .036). (D) Group data for 7-day alcohol pre-treated cells showing no significant effect of bath applied alcohol on NMDA response (n=10, paired t-test, p= .77). Differences in the mean amplitude of the baseline depolarization between naïve and chronically treated cells (panels C and D) relate in large measure to variation in the distance of the puffing pipette from the patched cells examined.