The inhibitory neurotransmitter !-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has multiple receptors. In mammals, the GABAA receptor subtype is modulated by neurosteroids. However, whether steroid interaction with the GABAA receptor is unique to mammals or a conserved feature in vertebrates is unknown. Thus, neurosteroid modulation of the GABAA receptor was investigated in the brain of the bullfrog (Rana catesbei...

-Aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptors, a family of Cl -permeable ion channels, mediate fast synaptic inhibition as postsynaptically enriched receptors for -aminobutyric acid at GABAergic synapses. Here we describe an alternative type of inhibitionmediatedbyGABAAreceptors present onneocortical glutamatergic nerve terminals and examine the underlying signaling mechanism(s). By monitoring th...

social anxiety disorder (sad) is the one of the most common anxiety disorders. despite its high prevalence, the disorder is still considerably undiagnosed and untreated. the disease places a massive burden on patient’s lives, affecting not only their social interactions but also their educational and professional activities, thereby constituting a severe disability. γ-aminobutyric acid (gaba) s...

GABAA-mediated IPSCs in piriform cortex have fast and slow components with different properties and locations on pyramidal cells. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2531-2545, 1997. A recent study in piriform (olfactory) cortex provided evidence that, as in hippocampus and neocortex, gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA)-mediated inhibition is generated in dendrites of pyramidal cells, not just in the somatic re...

1013 May 2013 I N this current issue of Anesthesiology, Xiang et al.1 describe the effects of volatile anesthetic activation of type A γ-amino butyric acid (GABAA) receptors expressed on airway epithelial cells. It has long been appreciated that a key mechanism in the action of general anesthetics in the brain involves the anesthetics’ allosteric potentiation of GABA on GABAA receptors, thereby...

To study the effects of perfume and phytonc;d on GABAA receptors, ionotropic GABAA receptors were expressed in Xlanopus eocytes by iajecting mRNAs that had been prepared from rat whole brain. Essential eil, pevfume and such phytoncid as leaf alcehol, hinokitiel, pinene, eugenol, citronellol and citronellal potentiated the response in the presence of GABA at low cencentratiens (10 and 30 "M), po...

introduction: estradiol is a neuroactive steroid, which is found in several brain areas such as locus coeruleus (lc). estradiol modulates nociception by binding to its receptors and also by allosteric interaction with other membranebound receptors like glutamate and gabaa receptors. lc is involved in noradrenergic descending pain modulation. methods: in order to study the effect of 17β-estradio...

We used whole cell patch clamp and gramicidin perforated patch recordings in hippocampal slices to study gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) currents in granule cells (GCs) from juvenile rat dentate gyrus (DG). GCs are generated postnatally and asynchronously such that they can be detected at different stages of their maturation in DG within the first month. In contrast, inhibitory interneurons are ...

An N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-independent form of long-term potentiation (LTP), which depends on postsynaptic, voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs), has been demonstrated in area CA1 of hippocampus. GABA acting at GABAA receptors limits postsynaptic depolarization during LTP induction. Blockade of GABAA receptors should therefore enhance activation of postsynaptic VDCCs and facilitate th...