Chronic EtOH intake has also been shown to enhance intracellular signaling associated with mGluRs, particularly mGluR5, in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) (Cozzoli et al. 2009). While chronic EtOH drinking can induce increases in mGluR1 and mGluR5 protein expression in NAc and amygdala (Szumlinski et al. 2008; Obara et al. 2009), changes in mGluR5 signaling in NAc are not always associated with an increase in the protein itself (Szumlinski et al. 2008). In cultured cerebellar Purkinje neurons, exposure to EtOH for 11 days produced a decrease in mGluR-induced dendritic calcium signals (Netzeband et al. 2002). Clearly, more work is needed to determine how signaling by the many mGluR subtypes changes with long-term EtOH exposure and drinking.
