Fig. 3.
Female CeA spontaneous GABAergic transmission is insensitive to an effective concentration of acute alcohol in males. (A, B) Representative GABAA-mediated sIPSCs of CeA neurons from naive and dependent female (A) and male (B) rats at baseline, and with subsequent acute application of alcohol (ethanol; 44 mM). (C) Acute alcohol has different effects on female and male CeA sIPSC frequency regardless of alcohol treatment history. As previously shown, acute alcohol increases CeA sIPSC frequency in naïve (135.3 ± 4.5% of baseline) and dependent (133.2 ± 10.7% of baseline) males. However, acute alcohol has no effect on sIPSC frequency in naïve (96.9 ± 8.9% of baseline) or dependent (104 ± 6.9% of baseline) females. There are no significant effects of acute alcohol on female and male naïve and dependent CeA sIPSC amplitude (D), rise time (E) or decay time (F). n = 9–14 neurons per group. *Significant difference (P < 0.05).