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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Assessment of Glutamine as a Fuel Source for Alveolar Macrophages Exposed to Chronic Ethanol Using an Extracellular Flux Bioanalyzer

Assessment of Glutamine as a Fuel Source for Alveolar Macrophages Exposed to Chronic Ethanol Using an Extracellular Flux Bioanalyzer

Published on: November 15, 2024

Ethanol enhances taurine-activated glycine receptor function.

Brian T Welsh¹, Dean Kirson, Hunter M Allen

¹Institutes for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.

Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research

|July 1, 2010

Summary

Ethanol enhances taurine

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Pharmacology

Background:

Taurine acts as a partial agonist on glycine receptors (GlyR).
Ethanol modulates GlyR activity, but its effect on taurine-activated GlyR was unstudied.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate ethanol's modulation of taurine-activated GlyR.
Compare ethanol's mechanism on taurine vs. glycine activation.

Main Methods:

Expressed wild-type and mutant alpha1 GlyR in Xenopus oocytes.
Used electrophysiology to measure responses to glycine, taurine, and ethanol.

Main Results:

Ethanol potentiated both glycine- and taurine-activated GlyR currents.
Ethanol shifted concentration-response curves leftward, without effect at saturating concentrations.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Assessment of Glutamine as a Fuel Source for Alveolar Macrophages Exposed to Chronic Ethanol Using an Extracellular Flux Bioanalyzer

Assessment of Glutamine as a Fuel Source for Alveolar Macrophages Exposed to Chronic Ethanol Using an Extracellular Flux Bioanalyzer

Published on: November 15, 2024

Development of an Ethanol-induced Fibrotic Liver Model in Zebrafish to Study Progenitor Cell-mediated Hepatocyte Regeneration

Development of an Ethanol-induced Fibrotic Liver Model in Zebrafish to Study Progenitor Cell-mediated Hepatocyte Regeneration

Published on: May 13, 2016

Zinc chelation reduced ethanol's enhancement of taurine-gated GlyR; S267I mutation blocked this enhancement.

Conclusions:

Ethanol modulates taurine-activated GlyR similarly to glycine.
Ethanol's lack of effect at saturating taurine concentrations offers mechanistic insight into alcohol's actions on GlyR.