Acute EtOH effects on neurotransmitter transport have been investigated using brain tissue and heterologous expression systems. In vivo studies indicate that EtOH increases monoamine levels in brain (reviewed in Gonzales et al. 2004, LeMarquand et al. 1994; Thielen et al. 2001). However, most studies of neurotransmitter transporters show them to be relatively insensitive to EtOH. However, increased cell surface expression of the dopamine transporter (DAT) was observed when this protein was heterologously expressed (Mayfield et al. 2001; Maiya et al. 2002). This effect would most likely decrease striatal dopamine during acute in vivo EtOH exposure in rodents, and thus does not help to explain the findings from in vivo studies. However, there is some controversy as to whether EtOH has potent effects on dopamine uptake measured in brain tissue using voltammetric techniques (Jones et al. 2006; Mathews et al. 2006; Robinson et al. 2005; Yavich and Tiihonen 2000). The EtOH-induced increase in striatal DA levels is unperturbed in DAT knockout mice, suggesting that the drug action responsible for this effect does not involve the transporter (Mathews et al. 2006). Furthermore,
