Fluctuating neurosteroid levels over the ovarian cycle modulate neuronal excitability through effects on GABA(A) receptors (GABA(A)Rs). The large increase in progesterone-derived neurosteroids during pregnancy and their precipitous decline at parturition may have considerable effects on GABA(A)Rs during pregnancy and postpartum. Here we show a significant decrease in tonic and phasic inhibition...

The activity-dependent modulation of GABA-A receptor (GABA(A)R) clustering at synapses controls inhibitory synaptic transmission. Several lines of evidence suggest that gephyrin, an inhibitory synaptic scaffold protein, is a critical factor in the regulation of GABA(A)R clustering during inhibitory synaptic plasticity induced by neuronal excitation. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by s...

GABA released from presynaptic sites induces short-lived phasic inhibition mediated by synaptic GABAA receptors (GABAARs) and longer-duration tonic inhibition mediated by extrasynaptic GABAA or GABAB receptors (GABABRs). A number of studies have found that contactin-associated protein 2 (Cntnap2) knockout (KO) mice, a well-established mouse model of autism, exhibit reduced interneuron numbers a...

Mature macroglia and almost all neural progenitor types express γ-aminobutyric (GABA) A receptors (GABA(A)Rs), whose activation by ambient or synaptic GABA, leads to influx or efflux of chloride (Cl(-)) depending on its electro-chemical gradient (E(Cl)). Since the flux of Cl(-) is indissolubly associated to that of osmotically obliged water, GABA(A)Rs regulate water movements by modulating ion ...

Positive allosteric modulation of the GABAA receptor (GABAAR) via the benzodiazepine recognition site is the mechanism whereby diverse chemical classes of therapeutic agents act to reduce anxiety, induce and maintain sleep, reduce seizures, and induce conscious sedation. The binding of such therapeutic agents to this allosteric modulatory site increases the affinity of GABA for the agonist reco...

The effect of Schaffer collateral/commissural fiber kindling on the expression levels of GABA A receptor ill, fiE, and f13 subunit mRNA in the pyramidal and granular neurons of the rat dorsal hippocampus was studied, using semi-quantitative in situ hybridization. In pyramidal neurons of CA1 and CA3, only small changes (10-15%) were found. In dentate granule neurons, the expression level of GABA...

Younts TJ, Makani S. Neuronal integration and the depolarizing effects of axonal GABAA receptors. J Neurophysiol 106: 2105–2107, 2011. First published August 3, 2011; doi:10.1152/jn.00328.2011.— Despite their presence throughout the central nervous system, the impact of axonally expressed gamma-amino-butyric acid type-A receptors (GABAARs) on neuronal signaling is just beginning to be understoo...