Departments of Pharmacology, Physiology and Biophysics, College of Medicine, Howard University, Division of Internal Medicine, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC 20059, USA. ytizabi@howard.edu. The high incidence of smoking among alcoholics may be partially due to nicotine's ability to counteract some of the adverse effects of ethanol on motor coordination and/or cognitive functions. Neuroprotective effects of nicotine on ethanol-induced toxicity in cerebellar granular cells have been observed. In this study, we sought to determine whether similar protection is observed in neocortical cells and if so, what specific nicotinic receptor subtypes may be mediating the actions of nicotine. Primary cultures of neocortical...