It is clear from the above discussion that exposure to alcohol, either acutely or chronically, has significant effects on the functional and structural status of the prefrontal cortex. Given the key role that this brain region plays in the integration, manipulation, and evaluation of incoming sensory and cognitive information, it is not surprising that alcoholics display deficits in executive control, decision making, and risk management. Despite these observations, however, there are still many unanswered questions that need to be addressed regarding the role of the PFC in the etiology and treatment of alcoholism. At a basic cellular level, there is still a paucity of data with respect to the acute effects of ethanol on subtypes of excitatory and inhibitory neurons within the diverse anatomical structures that make up the prefrontal cortex. Functional mapping studies using both electrophysiological and multineuron imaging techniques are needed to assess the relative ethanol sensitivity of neurons within prefrontal cortical microciruits and across the various subdivisions of this area (e.g., anterior cingulate, prelimbic, infralimbic, and orbitofrontal). There is also little known at the network level about
