Acute ethanol increases taurine but neither glutamate nor GABA in the nucleus accumbens of male rats: a microdialysis study.

The effects of acute intraperitoneal administration of ethanol (1-3 g/kg body wt) on the extracellular concentrations of glutamate (GLU), taurine (TAU) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in rat brain nucleus accumbens were studied by the microdialysis technique coupled to HPLC-EC detection. Levels of GLU and GABA were not affected by ethanol, whereas those of TAU were increased by doses of the drug of 2-3 g/kg.