Cell death mediated by amino acid transmitter receptors in human alcoholic brain damage: conflicts in the evidence.

Human alcoholics have reduced neuronal counts in certain brain regions, such as superior frontal cortex (SFC), where the form and quantity of synaptic gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor sites are atypical. We measured the expression of GABAA receptor isoform mRNA and protein, since GABAA receptor pharmacology is strongly influenced by its subunit composition. Cortex samples were obtained at autopsy; whole-tissue extracts were assayed for mRNA by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), while synaptic membranes were studied for both GABAA receptor pharmacology and subunit protein levels by Western blots with isoform-specific antibodies. Although alpha 1 and alpha 3 mRNA species were strongly expressed in alcoholics irrespective of cirrhosis than in controls, alpha 1 protein differed little between case groups, and alpha 3 protein showed some complex variations. Differences in GABAA pharmacology conformed more closely with differences in protein levels than with altered mRNA expression.