It has long been postulated that an interaction between ethanol and stress may play an important role in the etiology of alcoholism. In the present review, we focused on an interaction between ethanol and stress in the mechanism of psychological dependence on ethanol. Ethanol with conditioned fear stress (CFS), but not without the stress, induced a significant place preference. These results su...

In most tissues, the function of Ca(2+)- and voltage-gated K(+) (BK) channels is modified in response to ethanol concentrations reached in human blood during alcohol intoxication. In general, modification of BK current from ethanol-naïve preparations in response to brief ethanol exposure results from changes in channel open probability without modification of unitary conductance or change in BK...

Consumption of high doses of ethanol can lead to amnesia, which often manifests as a blackout. These blackouts experienced by ethanol consumers may be a major cause of the social problems associated with excess ethanol consumption. However, there is currently no established treatment for preventing these ethanol-induced blackouts. In this study, we tested the ethanol extract of the roots of Sal...

Ethanol has many pharmacological effects, including increases in endogenous adenosine levels and adenosine receptor activity in brain. Ethanol consumption is associated with both positive and negative health outcomes, but tolerance to the behavioral effects of ethanol can lead to increased consumption, which increases the risk of negative health outcomes. The present study was performed to test...

Several previous studies have indicated that chronic ingestion of ethanol exerts harmful effects on bones. However, few data are available concerning the effects of ethanol on the ultrastructure of bone. To further elucidate the effects of ethanol on bone, we studied the morphology of femur in golden hamsters after long-term treatment with ethanol. Six-week-old male hamsters were divided into 4...

Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), which integrates enzyme production, saccharification and fermentation into a one-step process, is a promising strategy for cost-effective ethanol production from starchy biomass. To gain insights into starch-based ethanol production using CBP, an extensive screening was undertaken to identify naturally occurring yeasts that produce ethanol without the addition ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the time course of changes in blood levels of various hormones in C57BL/6J mice during exposure to ethanol vapor. Groups of adult male mice were given 2.0 g per kg ethanol intraperitoneally or as continuous vapor for four hours and rates of ethanol elimination were measured. In parallel, blood samples were collected at timed intervals over 5.5 hours du...

Using isolated Leydig cells prepared from adult rat testes, the effects of ethanol on testicular steroido genesis were examined in vitro. Ethanol over a dosage range of 25 to 1000 mg 3⁄4 markedly inhibited gona dotropin-stimulated testosterone production in a dose-dependent fashion. As little as 25 mg 3⁄4 (ca. 6 mM) ethanol was effective in reducing testosterone synthesis by 50%. By using 0.5 m...

A modified method for calculating practical ethanol yield in the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) at high lignocellulosic solids content and high ethanol titer is proposed considering the liquid volume change caused by high titer ethanol generation and the water consumed during cellulose degradation. This modified method was applied to determine the practical ethanol yields ...