γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and short neuropeptide F (sNPF) are widespread signalling molecules in the brain of insects. In order to understand more about the signalling and to some extent start to unravel the functional roles of these two substances, this study has examined the locations of the transmitters and their receptors in the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster using immunocy...

GABAA receptors (GABAARs) are the major inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors in the brain and are therapeutic targets for many indications including sedation, anesthesia and anxiolysis. There is, however, considerable scope for the development of new therapeutics with improved beneficial effects and reduced side-effect profiles. The anthelminthic drug, ivermectin, activates the GABAAR although...

OBJECTIVE To identify differentially expressed genes associated with motion sickness (MS) susceptibility in the rat caudal vestibular nucleus. METHODS We identified MS susceptible (MSS) and insusceptible (inMSS) rats by quantifying rotation-induced MS symptoms: defecation and spontaneous locomotion activity. Microarray analysis was used to screen differentially expressed genes in the caudal v...

Rodent-based studies have shown that neurons undergo major developmental changes to ion channel expression and ionic gradients that determine their excitation-inhibition balance. Neurons derived from human pluripotent stem cells theoretically offer the potential to study classical developmental processes in a human-relevant system, although this is currently not well explored. Here, we show tha...

Despite being important clinical targets, it is not straightforward to reliably express recombinant trimeric αβγ GABA-A receptors (GABAARs) for high-throughput screening. This study therefore sought to devise a simple and reliable means of transiently expressing α1β1γ1 and α1β1γ2 GABAARs in HEK293 cells. Expression efficiencies resulting from 5 different transfection strategies were assessed by...