Effect of ethanol on extracellular 5-hydroxytryptamine output in rat frontal cortex

The effect of acute administration of ethanol on the release of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the frontal cortex of "Sardinian alcohol preferring" rats, "Sardinian non-preferring" rats and control rats was investigated using in vivo microdialysis. At the dosage of 2.5 g/kg i.p. ethanol increased the level of 5-HT in the dialysate by approximately 80 +/- 20% of basal values in the Sardinian alcohol preferring rats whereas no effect was observed in Sardinian non-preferring and control rats.