The effect of short-term ethanol intoxication in systems implicated in memory and other cognitive functions in rats has been assessed by studying the variation in the karyometry of the neurons in the different layers of the lateral entorhinal cortex. The analysis showed that short-term ethanol consumption produced a reduction in the nuclear area of neurons in layers V and VI, and to a lesser extent, in layers II and III. These results suggest that the deep layers of the entorhinal cortex are more sensitive to ethanol intoxication, thus more likely affecting cortical and subcortical projections than the hippocampal output.