Objective: Isoflurane is widely used for inhaled general anesthesia. However, the mechanisms of isoflurane-induced cardiovascular depression are not fully understood. The effect of isoflurane on GABAA receptor expression in the NTS may underlie cardiovascular depression. Methods: The blood pressure (BP) and heart rates (HR) of conscious rats were confirmed initially using a CODA non-invasive bl...

αβγ GABAA receptor currents are phasic and desensitizing while αβδ GABAA receptor currents are tonic and have no fast desensitization. αβγ receptors are subsynaptic and mediate phasic inhibition while αβδ receptors are extra or peri-synaptic and mediate tonic inhibition. Given the different roles of these GABAA receptor isoforms and that GABAA receptors are allosterically regulated by extracell...

Attenuated behavioral sensitivity to neurosteroids has been reported for mice deficient in the GABAA receptor subunit. We therefore investigated potential subunit-specific neurosteroid pharmacology of the following GABAA receptor isoforms in a transient expression system: 1 3 2L, 1 3 , 6 3 2L, and 6 3 . Potentiation of submaximal GABAA receptor currents by the neurosteroid tetrahydrodeoxycortic...

Auditory steady-state auditory responses (ASSRs), in which the evoked potential entrains to stimulus frequency and phase, are reduced in magnitude in patients with schizophrenia, particularly at 40 Hz. While the neural mechanisms responsible for ASSR generation and its perturbation in schizophrenia are unknown, it has been hypothesized that the GABAA receptor subtype may have an important role....

GABAA receptors are the major inhibitory transmitter receptors in the central nervous system. They are chloride ion channels that can be opened by g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and are the targets of action of a variety of pharmacologically and clinically important drugs. GABAA receptors are composed of five subunits that can belong to different subunit classes. The existence of 19 different subun...

There are coflicting reports regarding the role of GABA in morphine analgesia. While-sorne investigators have reported that treatment with GABAA receptor agonist muscimol and GABA transaminase inhibitors potentiates morphine analgesia (2.4.6) others have reported antagonism of morphine analgesia (8.10). In view of these conflicting reports and since the analgesic profile 'of THIP, a GABAA recep...

Changes in GABAergic inhibition occur during physiological processes, during response to drugs and in various pathologies. These changes can be achieved through direct allosteric modifications at the γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) type A (GABAA) receptor protein level, or by altering the synthesis, trafficking and stability of the receptor. Neurosteroids (NSs) and protein kinase C (PKC) are potent...

GABAA receptors are a heterogeneous family of ligand-gated ion channels responsible for mediating inhibitory neurotransmission in the CNS. Since the identification of mammalian cDNAs encoding 13 GABAA-receptor subunits, the composition of native receptor molecules and their localization in the brain has been an area of intense study. We conclude that the number of major subtypes is probably les...

GABA receptors of bipolar cells from the skate retina: actions of zinc on GABA-mediated membrane currents. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2402-2412, 1997. gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)-induced currents were recorded from isolated bipolar cells of the skate retina using perforated patch-clamp methodology. Pharmacological analysis of the responses, using selective agonists and antagonists of the major cla...

objective(s):painful diabetic neuropathy is associated with hyperexcitability and hyperactivity of spinal cord neurons. however, its underlying pathophysiological mechanisms have not been fully clarified. induction of excitatory/inhibitory neurotransmission imbalance at the spinal cord seems to account for the abnormal neuronal activity in diabetes. protective properties of neurosteroids have b...