Ethanol inhibits tetraethylammonium chloride-induced synaptic plasticity in area CA1 of rat hippocampus

Dendritic recordings of the rat hippocampal formation were used to assess the ability of ethanol to inhibit the induction of synaptic plasticity due to bath application of the K+ channel blocker, tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA). Brief application of TEA resulted in the enhancement of the population excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) slope by an average of 26 +/- 3% over the pre-TEA baseline. However, coapplication of TEA and ethanol (100 mM) resulted in enhancement of only 10 +/- 2% of the EPSP slope. These data suggest that LTP (long-term potentiation) due to the activation of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels is also inhibited by ethanol.