Background Selective augmentation of hippocampal activity in ways similar to that caused by ketamine may have therapeutic advantages over ketamine, which has psychotomimetic and reinforcing effects likely due to effects outside the hippocampus (i.e., off-target effects). Methods Here we evaluated the antidepressant-like response to a negative allosteric modulator of α5 subunit- containing gam...

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a four-carbon non-protein amino acid, is a significant component of the free amino acid pool in most prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. In plants, stress initiates a signal-transduction pathway, in which increased cytosolic Ca2+ activates Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent glutamate decarboxylase activity and GABA synthesis. Elevated H+ and substrate levels can also st...

Levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were measured by radioreceptor assay (RRA) in 25 normal controls and in 121 patients with various central nervous system disorders. CSF-GABA levels could be measured down to 5 pmoles/ml reliably by this assay. In normal controls, the mean (+/- SEM) GABA level in CSF was 127 +/- 5.2 pmoles/ml. There was no correlation between ...

Baclofen has been found to bind to receptors in the central nervous system that are specific for 7-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a well known inhibitory neurotransmitter. This paper describes the synthesis of a radioiodinated analog of baclofen as part of an effort to develop receptor probes useful in single photon emission computed tomography. Prel imi nary biodis tr ibut ion studies showed the ra...