Western blot analysis was conducted on dissected PFC tissue at 24 h
after the final drinking session (binge = prior binge ethanol intake; control =
prior water intake) and compared to values from similarly aged naïve mice
(naïve). Sexually divergent effects of treatment were observed on protein
levels of synaptophysin (synapto), cytochrome P450 side chain cleavage
(P450scc), and GABAA receptor (GABAAR) α2 subunit
in male and female PFC, whereas treatment produced a similar suppression in
GABAAR α4 subunit protein levels. Values are mean ±
SEM for each group: male: n=15–18 (naïve), n=11 (control), n=12
(binge); female: n=13–17 (naïve), n=8 (control), n=10–11
(binge). All levels were initially normalized to β-actin. Fold regulation
was then determined by normalizing all values to the mean of the relative
expression of the respective naïve group (dashed gray line).
*p<0.05, **p<0.01,
***p≤0.001 vs respective naïve group (effect
size range = 1.31 – 3.41).