TITLE: A Biophysical Peek at the Intoxicated Synapse

SPEAKER: Professor Jeff Weiner ,

Alcohol abuse continues to be a major health problem in the United States. Over 100 million Americans consider themselves regular drinkers. Of these, approximately 20% will develop alcoholism and alcohol abuse claims over 100,000 lives annually. Despite the devastating economic and social costs of alcoholism, relatively little is known about the physiological mechanisms responsible for the intoxicating effects of alcohol. Over the past twenty years or so, a large volume of evidence has emerged suggesting that alcohol may interact with a select group of proteins in the central nervous system that regulate excitatory and inhibitory communication between brain cells. We, and many other neuroscientists are taking advantage of recent advances in cell electrophysiology to study the effects of drugs like alcohol on synaptic activity recorded from individual neurons in brain slices. Using a biophysical approach, we are rapidly gaining a much clearer picture of the cellular mechanisms that underlie the complex behavioral and cognitive effects of alcohol.