Knowledge regarding the mechanisms by which ethanol initiates, and the subsequent events that mediate, its behavioral effects has increased markedly over the past 5-10 years. These findings have fundamentally changed the working hypotheses regarding ethanol's initial mechanism(s). They have also identified several cellular systems which may represent the initial sites upon which ethanol acts to begin the cascades resulting in behavioral alterations. The goal of the Fifth Gordon Conference on Alcohol is to use this new information as a springboard to re-assess important questions in our field, to identify mechanisms and sites of ethanol's action and to link these sites to specific behavioral effects of ethanol. The long-term goal is to use knowledge regarding the biological bases of ethanol's behavioral effects to improve and develop new alcoholism risk assessment, prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies. The proposed Conference has two Specific Aims.
Aim 1 is to address key questions regarding the biological bases of ethanol's behavioral effects. These include: a) What are the initial biological events (mechanisms) underlying ethanol's behavioral effects? b) What are the critical sites of action initiating, mediating or controlling specific behavioral effects of ethanol? c) What role do different brain regions play in mediating specific behavioral effects of ethanol? and d) How can we begin to address systems interactions in assessing the biological bases of ethanol's behavioral effects? Aim 2 is to present and discuss new discoveries in Neuroscience that could lead to new research approaches and questions in ethanol research over the next five years. The goal is to present information that will stimulate thoughts about new approaches and questions. Nine scientific sessions will be presented to achieve these aims. Session I will concentrate on new issues and developments regarding the mechanisms by which ethanol acts. Session II will be devoted to posters. Sessions III-VII will be devoted to linking individual putative sites upon which ethanol acts to the behavioral alterations they induce. The banquet speaker will continue the conference theme via the topic """"""""Biological Bases of Ethanol's Behavioral Effects: Speculative flow chart from initial sites through cascades, interactions (chemical/regional), final common pathways to behavioral change."""""""" Session VIII will be devoted to recent developments in Neuroscience that may enhance our ability to establish links between cellular and behavioral effects of ethanol. Session IX will switch to a more systems oriented approach by investigating new roles steroids may play in mediating ethanol's behavioral effects. This meeting will fill a unique niche for alcohol researchers due to: 1) the Gordon Conference format, with its emphasis on bringing together leading researchers from different disciplines for informal discussion and the generation of new ideas, and 2) the specific focus of linking molecular and cellular changes induced by ethanol to their resultant behaviors.
