The results of this study provide additional data on genes potentially linked either to the development of alcohol dependence or the effects of excessive alcohol. There are, however, limitations. Even though most of the genes we found differentially expressed in the LCLs exposed to ethanol are also expressed in brain, the changes we found might not mirror what happens in the brain. Long-term drinking patterns are highly variable, and not replicated in vitro; our goal was to determine if there is molecular evidence of either adaptation or increased perturbation of gene expression after 48 h of exposure, compared to 24 h. Differences at baseline (unexposed cells) were very small, and because we were underpowered to detect many we relaxed our statistical criteria to examine trends.
