Low EtOH concentrations have also been shown to decrease excitability in the basolateral amygdala (BLA). For example, Chung and colleagues [56] examined the effects of EtOH on compound postsynaptic potentials (cPSPs), which are thought to represent spontaneous circuit activity and are dependent on both GABAergic and glutamatergic transmission in the BLA. These authors found that application of 20mM EtOH significantly increased the frequency ratio of cPSPs in slices obtained from young rats (PN16–23). Excitatory neurotransmission in the BLA is also mediated by kainate receptors (KARs), and Lack and colleagues [57] have shown that EtOH decreases KAR-mediated EPSCs in the rat BLA in a concentration-dependent manner. Specifically, these authors found that KAR-mediated synaptic currents were significantly decreased by 20mM EtOH (~26%).
