This report demonstrates that altering the relative abundance of GABAA receptor subunits results in functional changes in response to both GABA and ethanol. Since GABAA receptor activity is critical for synaptic inhibition throughout the brain, alterations in GABA responsiveness may have wide-reaching impacts on the general state of central nervous system excitability. This study suggests that variations in the relative expression of GABAA receptor subunit genes may result in differences in response to both GABA and ethanol, and thereby such expression differences may modulate the propensity towards alcoholism.
