Role of dopamine in responsiveness to acute ethanol exposure in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Alcohol use and abuse is a common and prevalent disorder characterized by complex and individually variable physiological effects. C. elegans 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 C. elegans , 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.