Alterations in gene expression produced by exposure to ethanol have been reported in a few studies. Acute ethanol injections (6 g/kg; i.p.) produced gene expression changes associated with cell signal regulation, gene regulation, and homeostasis/stress responses in the whole brain from C57BL/6J and DBA/2J, high- and low-ethanol drinking mice, respectively (Treadwell and Singh, 2004). Kerns et al. (2005) reported that acute i.p. ethanol injections altered the expression of genes involved in glucocorticoid signaling, neurogenesis, myelination, neuropeptide signaling, and retinoic acid signaling in the ACB, prefrontal cortex and VTA of C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice. Differences in the expression levels of genes coding for oxido-reductases and ADP-ribosylation factors have also been found in the dorsal hippocampus of Lewis rats given 12% ethanol or water for 15 months (Saito et al., 2002). In a recent study, Bowers et al. (2006) reported that chronic ethanol consumption, in a liquid diet, altered the expression of over 100 genes in the cerebellum of PKCgamma wild-type and mutant mice. In contrast, Saito et al. (2004) in a previous study found no statistically significant effects of chronic free-choice
