tolerance is typically defined as tolerance manifested after a single exposure has been eliminated from the system. Chronic tolerance involves various forms of multiple or continual ethanol exposure paradigms. GABAA receptors are implicated in tolerance to ethanol’s effects. For instance, in humans, sons of alcoholics exhibit decreased sensitivity to diazepam in eye-movement tasks (Cowley et al. 1994), indicative of reduced sensitivity to GABAergic stimulation. In animal studies, a considerable amount of work has been done to assess the role of GABAA receptors in innate and acquired tolerance to ethanol, as described below.
