To examine the effects of chronic alcohol exposure on NMDA subunit mRNA expression, iPS-derived neural cells from 7 subjects (4 alcoholics and 3 non-alcoholics) were cultured for 15–18 weeks and subjected to three treatment conditions; a 7-day sham treatment, a 7-day alcohol treatment, and a 7-day alcohol treatment with a 24-hr withdrawal period (n=4–7 coverslips per subject per condition). Neural differentiation media with or without 50 mM alcohol was replaced daily. In the condition examining withdrawal, after 7 days of alcohol treatment, alcohol-containing media was replaced with normal neural differentiation media for 24 hours.
