Use of cerebellar cGMP in the measurement and characterization of the diazepam/ethanol interaction

The characterization and measurement of the benzodiazepine and ethanol interaction has been of major interest for many years. Various pharmacological and biochemical studies have been employed to investigate this interaction, which is believed to occur predominantly in the CNS, but localization of one particular brain area has not been investigated. This research employed the rat cerebellum as a site to study the diazepam/ethanol interaction. The measurement of cerebellar ethanol and diazepam, by gas chromatography, demonstrated an enhancement of diazepam levels by ethanol. Ethanol and diazepam, alone and in combination, displayed a significant depression of cerebellar 3',5'-Guanosine Cyclic Monophosphate (cGMP). The depression seen by the combination was significantly greater than the simple algebraic sum, but insignificantly different from the corrected algebraic sum. The double reciprocal plot of the data demonstrated a common ordinate intercept for the diazepam line and the diazepam/ethanol (2 g/kg) line, thus indicating a competitive mechanism of action.