Liu, Qiuli, and Margaret T. T. Wong-Riley. Developmental changes in the expression of GABAA receptor subunits 1, 2, and 3 in the rat pre-Bötzinger complex. J Appl Physiol 96: 1825–1831, 2004. First published January 16, 2004; 10.1152/japplphysiol.01264.2003.—Previously, we reported that the pre-Bötzinger complex (PBC) exhibited a dramatic reduction in cytochrome oxidase activity at postnatal da...

Alterations of synaptic excitation induced by exposure to gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA) receptor antagonists were investigated employing tight-seal whole cell recording from single neurons or pairs of neurons in rat embryonic midbrain culture. Application of GABAA receptor antagonists led to sustained depolarizations followed by synchronous paroxysmal depolarization shifts (PDSs). PDSs indu...

The effect of GABAA receptor activation varies from inhibition to excitation depending on the state of the transmembrane anionic concentration gradient (delta anion). delta anion was genetically altered in cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons via adenoviral vector-mediated expression of ClC-2, a Cl- channel postulated to regulate the Cl- concentration in neurons in which GABAA receptor activat...

Presynaptic inhibition onto axons regulates neuronal output, but how such inhibitory synapses develop and are maintained in vivo remains unclear. Axon terminals of glutamatergic retinal rod bipolar cells (RBCs) receive GABAA and GABAC receptor-mediated synaptic inhibition. We found that perturbing GABAergic or glutamatergic neurotransmission does not prevent GABAergic synaptogenesis onto RBC ax...

Ionotropic glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptors mediate critical excitatory and inhibitory actions in the brain. Cyclothiazide (CTZ) is well known for its effect of enhancing glutamatergic transmission and is widely used as a blocker for alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)-type glutamate receptor desensitization. Here, we report that in addi...

The medial habenula (MHb) plays an important role in nicotine-related behaviors such as nicotine aversion and withdrawal. The MHb receives GABAergic input from the medial septum/diagonal band of Broca (MS/DB), yet the synaptic mechanism that regulates MHb activity is unclear. GABA (γ -aminobutyric acid) is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter activating both GABAA receptors and GABAB receptors. ...

GABAA receptors not only respond to the local release of GABA from presynaptic terminals, but can also mediate a persistent 'tonic current'. This reflects the activation of high-affinity GABAA receptors by ambient GABA concentrations. Tonic GABAA-receptor-mediated signalling occurs in different brain regions, shows cell-type-specific differences in magnitude and pharmacology, and changes during...

GABAA receptors form the major class of inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors in the mammalian brain. This review sets out to summarize the evidence that variations in genes encoding GABAA receptor isoforms are associated with aspects of addictive behaviour in humans, while animal models of addictive behaviour also implicate certain subtypes of GABAA receptor. In addition to outlining the evide...

GABAA receptors mediate the majority of fast synaptic inhibition in the brain. The accumulation of these ligand-gated ion channels at synaptic sites is a prerequisite for neuronal inhibition, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain obscure. To further understand these processes, we have examined the cellular origins of synaptic GABAA receptors. To do so, we have created f...

The functional role of GABAA receptors in inhibition of synaptic transmission between muscle spindle afferents and spinal motoneurons was studied in the isolated spinal cord of bullfrogs. Extracellular recording from the ventral root showed that activation of GABAA receptors by muscimol (primarily a GABAA receptor agonist) at 50 microM produced a 38% reduction in the amplitude of the excitatory...