The BK channel has emerged as an important model to study alcohol because it: (i) is abundantly expressed in the brain [13,14]; (ii) plays an essential role in many aspects of neuronal physiology, including neurotransmitter release [15–17], action potential patterning and dendritic excitability [9,18–24]; (iii) activity is regulated functionally by alcohol [4,10,25,26]; (iv) is a key element of behavioral tolerance to alcohol in both invertebrates [27–30] and mammals [3]; and (v) provides a link between ongoing neuronal activity and modulation via intracellular calcium. Four of the mechanisms at play in modulating the response of BK to alcohol are shown in Figure 1.
