The studies reviewed here represent a large fraction of all of the many meaningful physiological studies that have appeared on CNS effects of alcohol at lower (<20mM) to medium concentrations of the drug (20–50mM). It is apparent that alcohol researchers have long ago abandoned a “unitary mechanism” (single target) approach and have also diversified from the “hippocampocentric” view of the brain that prevailed 20 years ago, and are now looking for the origin of the varied and complex behavioral effects of alcohol within the many distinct CNS structures that subserve those actions. The necessary sub-division of labor among investigators has allowed what once seemed an impossibly difficult problem to be broken down into more managable components, and this process of simplification has been extremely helpful in allowing alcohol researchers to ask and answer soluble questions within reasonable time-frames. There is no doubt the drive during the 2000s and since, to focus on the many structures and local circuits involved, has contributed substantially to an increase in the quality and relevance of the scientific work done in the field.
