Nitrendipine, given during drinking, decreases the electrophysiological changes in the isolated hippocampal slice, seen during ethanol withdrawal.

1. Extracellular recordings were made from mouse isolated hippocampal slices prepared after chronic treatment in vivo with either ethanol or ethanol plus the dihydropyridine calcium channel antagonist, nitrendipine. 2. The withdrawal of ethanol caused a variety of changes in the field potentials, as previously reported, including decreases in the thresholds for eliciting single and multiple population spikes, increases in paired pulse potentiation and shifts to the left of the input/output curves. 3. The addition of nitrendipine to the drinking mixture in the chronic ethanol treatment significantly decreased all the changes in the field potentials that were seen after ethanol withdrawal. 4. Addition of nitrendipine to the perfusion medium also decreased the signs of hyperexcitability seen in the hippocampal slices during ethanol withdrawal. 5. The results provide further evidence that neuronal calcium channels may be involved in ethanol dependence and that the adaptive changes caused by chronic ethanol treatment can be modulated by alterations at dihydropyridine-sensitive sites.