Alcohol and alcoholism : international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism
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Tolerance to ethanol-induced inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) is thought to underlie the acute adaptive mechanisms against ethanol. To explore these compensatory upregulating mechanisms of NMDARs, we investigated the expression and phosphorylation of NMDAR subunits in vivo following an acute ethanol treatment. ⋯ Acute ethanol treatment increased NR1 subunit phosphorylation and NR2A and NR2B subunit expression in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of rats. These effects of ethanol on the NMDAR subunits may underlie the mechanisms that compensate for ethanol-induced inhibition of NMDARs. However, the regulation of NR2A and NR2B in this paradigm is not dependent on transcriptional changes.