lower in adolescents compared to adults, it is tantalizing to speculate that this subunit is a critical mediator underlying the changes in ethanol’s effect on GABAA receptors across development. Overall, because GABAA receptor subunit expression differs across development, it is likely that changes in GABAA receptor stoichiometry underlie many of the developmental specific effects of ethanol previously reviewed. Furthermore, chronic ethanol exposure alters GABAA receptor mRNA and protein expression. As such, it is predicted that chronic ethanol exposure during adolescence, when GABAA receptors are changing, should also alter GABAA receptor protein expression in a manner that differs from the changes found following adult ethanol exposure.
