Calcium channel antagonist receptors in cerebral cortex from alcoholic patients

Exposure to ethanol for days to weeks enhances the expression of voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels in the brains of experimental animals and in cultured neural cell lines. To determine if similar changes occur in the brains of alcoholic patients, we measured the binding of (+)-[3H]PN 200-110 to cerebral cortex samples obtained at autopsy from alcoholic and non-alcoholic patients. No difference in (+)-[3H]PN 200-110 binding was observed, suggesting that ethanol-induced changes in Ca2+ channel expression are more likely to be related to acute withdrawal than to chronic ethanol exposure alone.