trafficking and ubiquitination of the NMDA NR2B subunit (Jurd et al., 2008; Yi et al., 2007). Up-regulation of NR2B-NMDA receptor activity within the dorsomedial striatum by alcohol contributed to synaptic dysregulation and excessive alcohol intake and relapse drinking in rats (Wang et al., 2010), suggesting overlapping dysregulation of glutamatergic signaling in different species. Coupled with down-regulation of GABA receptors and genes involved in GABA synthesis/transport, the increased glutamatergic signaling suggests an excitotoxic shift in synaptic signaling in the alcoholic brain.
