Ethanol is a small molecule that interferes with numerous and diverse molecular targets, including neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels, and thereby modulates the activity of specific neural circuits to produce acute behavioral effects of ethanol such as dishinhibition, ataxia and sedation [49, 50]. Additional neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems are then recruited during the acquisition and maintenance of ethanol drinking, and ultimately in the transition to ethanol dependence [1, 50]. Despite the variety of paradigms used to study the transcriptional effects of ethanol (see Table 1), a recurring conclusion from microarray studies is that ethanol affects a small proportion of the transcriptome (typically ~2%). A somewhat unexpected finding was that chronic binge drinking induces an even more limited set of transcriptional changes in the nucleus accumbens than chronic continuous drinking, which suggests that repeated episodes of intoxication and withdrawal lead to a tight regulation of gene expression, at least in this brain region [25, 27].
