The effect of chronic ethanol administration of high affinity 3H-nicotinic binding in rat brain

The effect of chronic ethanol administration on high affinity 3H-nicotinic binding rat brain was investigated. Chronic ethanol administration for 5 months included a significant decrease in the number of specific nicotinic binding sites in the hippocampus, whereas a significantly increase in the number of nicotinic binding sites both in the hypothalamus and in the thalamus was found. Similar effects were observed both after administration of a lower concentration (8% W/V) ethanol and a higher concentration (16% W/V) indicating that the duration of the administration seems to be of importance for the biochemical changes observed.