Role of dopamine in responsiveness to acute ethanol exposure in .

Alcohol use and abuse is a common and prevalent disorder characterized by complex and individually variable physiological effects. demonstrate multiple ethanol-induced behaviors and are an effective model for experimentally isolating environmental and genetic factors underlying the actions of ethanol. Using wild type and dopamine signaling mutant the current study found that ethanol exposure results in dopamine release-dependent swimming induced paralysis and that dopamine influences acute sensitivity to ethanol. Taken together, the findings support a role for dopamine in mediating acute responses to ethanol.