We then examined the expression level between controls and alcoholics. The level of GluN2A mRNA was significantly decreased whereas the levels of GluD1 and GluD2 mRNAs were significantly increased in the alcoholics as compared to controls (Figure 2, Table 1). The significance between the two groups was not affected by age, brain pH, PMI, smoking history, or RQI. No individual in either group consistently expressed genes at higher level than the other individuals in the same group. In this study, box and whisker plots with median and whiskers were plotted using the Tukey method to determine outliers (data points above or below the whiskers). Statistical analysis was done where the outliers were not included when the data-sets were compared. The mRNA levels for the remaining subunits were not altered between the two groups in the caudate (Figure 2).
