Figure 2.
Effects of chronic voluntary alcohol exposure on cell membrane properties and synaptic transmission in the rhesus monkey bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). (a) and (b) Representative traces of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs; a) and excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs; b) in BNST neurons from CON and EtOH monkeys. (c) and (d) BNST neurons patched with a Cs-Cl interacellular recording solution had significantly lower membrane resistance (IRes) in EtOH monkeys than in CONs (c; t(38) = 2.11, *P = 0.041), but neuron capacitance (ICap) did not differ between groups (d; P>0.45). (e) and (f) Neurons patched with a K-Gluc intracellular recording solution did not significantly differ in membrane resistance (ERes; e) or capacitance (ECap; f; P>0.25). (g) sIPSC frequency was significantly higher in BNST neurons from EtOH monkeys than CON monkeys (t(38) = 3.38, **P = 0.002). (h) There was a non-significant trend toward increased sIPSC amplitude in BNST neurons of EtOH monkeys compared with CONs (t(38) = 1.91, P = 0.064). (i) and (j) Neither sEPSC frequency (i) nor amplitude (j) significantly differed between CON and EtOH monkey BNST neurons (P>0.10). All data in panels B-J are presented in natural space as mean ± SEM; because these data.