NMDA receptors in frontal cortex and hippocampus of alcohol consumers.

Specific binding of [³H]MK801 to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the frontal cortex and hippocampus (CA1 and gyrus dentatus) was measured by receptor autoradiography in 16 Caucasian chronic alcohol consumers free of clinical manifestations of alcoholism, and compared with 16 Caucasian control subjects. Binding densities were not significantly different between heavy and moderate drinkers, neither between alcohol consumers that were abstinent or non-abstinent before death, nor between ethanol drinkers and controls. Continued alcohol consumption, in the absence of hepatic, neurologic or psychiatric disorders related to alcoholism, does not alter the binding properties of NMDA receptors in the brain areas studied.