Much less is known about ethanol’s effects on plasticity in other areas. A single in vivo ethanol administration impairs LTP in VTA dopamine neurons in DBA mice, with no effect in C57 mice (Wanat et al., 2009), but unlike other regions, chronic ethanol treatment enhances NMDA-dependent LTD in VTA dopamine neurons (Bernier et al., 2011) (Figure 3Q). Ethanol exposure also inhibits LTP in VTA neuron GABAergic synapses (Guan and Ye, 2010) (Figure 3R). Further study is required to understand the effect of ethanol on midbrain dopamine neurons, especially in light of recent findings on the anatomical and biochemical diversity of dopamine neurons (Lammel et al., 2008; Poulin et al., 2014).
