Several studies suggest that GABAA receptors may be involved in ethanol preference. α1-GABAA receptor knockouts consumed less ethanol in a two-bottle choice drinking study, but also showed reduced saccharin preference compared to wildtype mice (Blednov et al. 2003b; June et al. 2007). In studies of ethanol reinforcement, α1-GABAA receptor knockouts exhibited reduced operant responding for ethanol, although this was also accompanied by a reduced responding for sucrose (June et al. 2007). In contrast, α5- and δ-GABAA receptor knockouts showed reduced ethanol preference with no changes in saccharin preference (Boehm et al. 2004b; Mihalek et al. 2001; Stephens et al. 2005). Additionally, a recent study utilizing viral vectors (Rewal et al. 2009) demonstrates that reduction of α4-GABAA receptor subunits in the nucleus accumbens shell by RNA interference decreases ethanol consumption and preference. Further studies in other brain areas as well as studies targeting other subunits will be of great interest. Remarkably, many other ethanol-induced behaviors remain unaltered in mice with genetically modified GABAA receptors. For instance, the δ-GABAA receptors do not appear necessary for the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol or
