title: Acute action of ethanol on rat hippocampal CA1 neurons: effects on intracellular signaling.
abstract: Ethanol has a concentration dependent dual effect on electrical activity of rat CA1 hippocampal neurons. Low concentrations of ethanol (0.001%) enhance whereas high concentrations (0.5%) suppress synaptic transmission. Ethanol has no effect on cell input resistance and orthodromic or somatic threshold of action potentials. Cholera toxin, an activator of stimulatory guanine nucleotide binding regulatory protein (Gs), prevented the ethanol effects on field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs). Staurosporine, an inhibitor of protein kinases, bisindolylmaleimide, an inhibitor of protein kinase C, and phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu), an activator of protein kinase C, blocked the effect of ethanol on field EPSPs. Our results show that ethanol at extremely low concentrations is able to affect synaptic transmission and suggest that the molecular mechanism of ethanol action involves the activation of Gs protein and protein kinase C.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Physiology, University of Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lahnsteiner
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hermann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015398:Signal Transduction; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D011493:Protein Kinase C; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins