Lieberman and colleagues used hiPSCs to investigate the biological effects of alcohol on human brain cells (Lieberman et al., 2012). hiPSCs derived from four alcohol dependent individuals and three social drinkers were differentiated into a mixed population of neurons and astrocytes, and then exposed to acute or chronic ethanol. Electrophysiological recordings revealed that acute alcohol exposure attenuated NMDA (excitatory) responses in samples from both healthy and alcohol dependent individuals. Chronic exposure, however, led to an upregulation of NMDA subunit transcripts in dependent but not healthy subjects, indicating a compensatory mechanism for NMDA-R attenuation in the transition from acute to chronic alcohol exposure (Lieberman et al., 2012). This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of studying the effects of alcohol in hiPSC-derived neurons from healthy and AUD-affected individuals.
