OBJECTIVES Increases in the extracellular concentration of the excitatory amino acids glutamate and aspartate during cerebral ischaemia in patients are well recognised. Less emphasis has been placed on the concentrations of the inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters, notably gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA), despite evidence from animal studies that GABA may act as a neuroprotectant in models o...

Introduction: Gama amino butyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian nervous system. The concentration of GABA and the number of GABA cell secretion decrease in diabetic patient and experimental diabetes model. The reported effects of GABA activation on insulin secretion from beta cells have been controversial. In this study we investigated if GABA administr...

In this work, we introduce the kinetic framework for modelling synaptic transmission in an existing neural mass model of the thalamocortical circuitry to study Electroencephalogram (EEG) slowing within the alpha frequency band (8–13 Hz), a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Ligand-gated excitatory and inhibitory synapses mediated by AMPA (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid)...

Infantile amnesia is a ubiquitous phenomenon, but its neural bases remain largely unknown. The authors identify a role for GABAergic transmission in suppressing retrieval of memories acquired in infancy. Eighteen-day-old rats received pairings of white noise and shock; considerable forgetting of this experience (assessed by freezing) occurred after 10 days. The memory was recovered by pretest a...

A simple, fast and efficient method for allylation and propargylation of chlorosilanes through zinc mediation and ultrasound promotion is reported. As a direct application of the resulting bis-allylsilanes, three novel, constrained sila amino acids are prepared for the first time. The design and synthesis of the constrained sila analogue of GABA (γ-amino butyric acid) is a highlight of this work.

In the adult central nervous system (CNS), gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) is a predominant inhibitory neurotransmitter, which regulates glutamatergic activity. Recent studies have revealed that GABA serves as an excitatory transmitter in the immature CNS, and is involved in brain morphogenesis. To elucidate how GABA exerts its effect on immature neurons and how GABAergic synapses are formed, w...

The effects of soaking conditions and anaerobic treatment on the gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) content in germinated Red Jasmine brown rice (GBR) were investigated in this study. Firstly, GBR was produced by soaking brown rice grains in water at different temperatures (5, 28, 35oC) and soaking times (8, 16, 24 h), then GBR was incubated under nitrogen gas for 12 h. The results showed that GAB...

The intergeniculate leaflet (IGL) of the thalamus constitutes a small but important part of the neural network controlling circadian activity in rodents. It appears that IGL integrates photic cues from retina with non-photic information originating from different nonspecific brain systems. Subsequently, this integrated signal is passed to the master biological clock - the suprachiasmatic nuclei...