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BACKGROUNDSeveral studies indicate that ethanol enhances the activity of α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR). Our laboratory has identified a polymorphism in the α4 gene that results in the substitution of an alanine (A) for threonine (T) at amino acid position 529 in the second intracellular loop of the α4 protein. Mouse strains expressing the A variant have, in general, greater nAChR-mediated 86Rb+ efflux in response to nicotine than strains with the T variant. However, the possibility of the polymorphism modulating the effects of ethanol on the 86Rb+ efflux response has not been investigated.METHODSWe have used the 86Rb+ efflux method to study the acute effects of ethanol on the function of the α4β2 nAChR in the thalamus in six different mouse strains. Experiments were also performed on tissue samples taken from F2 intercross animals. The F2 animals were derived from A/J mice crossed with a substrain of C57BL/6J mice that carried a null mutation for the gene encoding the β2 nAChR subunit.RESULTSIn strains carrying the A polymorphism (A/J, AKR/J, C3H/Ibg), coapplication of ethanol (10-100 mM) with nicotine (0.03-300 μM) increased maximal ion flux when compared with nicotine alone with no effect on agonist potency. In contrast, ethanol had little effect on the nicotine concentration-response curve in tissue prepared from strains carrying the T polymorphism (Balb/Ibg, C57BL/6J, C58/J). Experiments with the F2 hybrids demonstrated that one copy of the A polymorphism was sufficient to produce a significant enhancement of nAChR function by ethanol (50 mM) in animals that were also β2 +/+. Ethanol had no effect on nicotine concentration-response curves in T/T β2 +/+ animals.CONCLUSIONSThe results suggest that the A/T polymorphism influences the initial sensitivity of the α4β2 nAChR to ethanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]