Differential Regulation of GABAA Receptor Gene Expression by Ethanol in the Rat Hippocampus Versus Cerebral Cortex
Open Access
- 1 March 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Neurochemistry
- Vol. 70 (3) , 1160-1166
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1471-4159.1998.70031160.x
Abstract
Previous research has shown that chronic ethanol consumption dramatically alters GABAA receptor α1 and α4 subunit gene expression in the cerebral cortex and GABAA receptor α1 and α6 subunit gene expression in the cerebellum. However, it is not yet known if chronic ethanol consumption produces similar alterations in GABAA receptor gene expression in other brain regions. One brain region of interest is the hippocampus because it has recently been shown that a subset of GABAA receptors in the hippocampus is responsive to pharmacologically relevant concentrations of ethanol. Therefore, we directly compared the effects of chronic ethanol consumption on GABAA receptor subunit gene expression in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Furthermore, we investigated whether the duration of ethanol consumption (14 or 40 days) would influence regulation of GABAA receptor gene expression in these two brain regions. Chronic ethanol consumption produced a significant increase in the level of GABAA receptor α4 subunit peptide in the hippocampus following 40 days but not 14 days. The relative expression of hippocampal GABAA receptor α1, α2, α3, α2/3, or γ2 was not altered by either period of chronic ethanol exposure. In marked contrast, chronic ethanol consumption for 40 days significantly increased the relative expression of cerebral cortical GABAA receptor α4 subunits and significantly decreased the relative expression of cerebral cortical GABAA receptor α1 subunits. This finding is consistent with previous results following 14 days of chronic ethanol consumption. Hence, chronic ethanol consumption alters GABAA receptor gene expression in the hippocampus but in a different manner from that in either the cerebral cortex or the cerebellum. Furthermore, these alterations are dependent on the duration of ethanol exposure.Keywords
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