objective: argemone mexicana is a papaveracea plant; some reports have shown their antibacterial, anti-cancer, sedative and probably anti-anxiety properties. from their aerial parts, flavonoids and alkaloids have been isolated, which are intrinsically related to some actions on the central nervous system. the aim of this study was to evaluate the anxiolytic-like effects of the plant, using its ...

background: estradiol and progesterone as well as hippocampal gabaa receptors are believed to play a role in the modulation of pain. the aim of present study was to investigate the effect of intrahippocampal injections of gabaa receptor agonist (muscimol) and gabaa receptor antagonist (picrotoxin) on pain sensitivity during estrous cycle. methods: pain sensitivity was evaluated in rats by forma...

GABAA receptors mediate fast inhibitory neurotransmission in the brain. Dysfunction of these receptors is associated with various psychiatric/neurological disorders and drugs targeting this receptor are widely used therapeutic agents. Both the efficacy and plasticity of GABAA receptor-mediated neurotransmission depends on the number of surface GABAA receptors. An understudied aspect of receptor...

Midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons in vivo exhibit two major firing patterns: singlespike firing and burst firing. The firing pattern expressed is dependent upon both the intrinsic properties of the neurons and their excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs. Experimental data suggest that the activation of NMDA and GABAA receptors is a crucial contributor to the initiation and suppression of b...

GABAergic synaptic transmission plays an important role in resetting and synchronizing circadian rhythms in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Although the circadian modulation of intrinsic membrane currents and biochemical signaling have been examined in the SCN, the modulation of specific synaptic pathways within the SCN is unexplored. In addition, little is known about the functional propert...

Midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons in vivo exhibit two major firing patterns: single-spike firing and burst firing. The firing pattern expressed is dependent on both the intrinsic properties of the neurons and their excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs. Experimental data suggest that the activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and GABAA receptors is a crucial contributor to the initiatio...

BACKGROUND Victims of organophosphate intoxication with cholinergic crisis may have need for sedation and anesthesia, but little is known about how anesthetics work in these patients. Recent studies suggest that cholinergic stimulation impairs gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor function. Because GABAA receptors are major targets of general anesthetics, the authors investigated inte...

Sympathetic neurons have the capability to segregate their neurotransmitters (NTs) and co-transmitters to separate varicosities of single axons; furthermore, in culture, these neurons can even segregate classical transmitters. In vivo sympathetic neurons employ acetylcholine (ACh) and other classical NTs such as gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA). Herein, we explore whether these neurons in vivo se...

In the central nervous system inhibitory neurotransmission is primarily achieved through activation of receptors for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Three types of GABA receptors have been identified on the basis of their pharmacology and electrophysiology. The predominant type, termed GABAA and a recently identified type, GABAC, have integral chloride channels, whereas GABAB receptors couple t...