Molecular Neurobiology Unit (E.A.B.), Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, England; Neuroscience Discovery (P.S.), Lilly Research Laboratories, Indianapolis, Indiana; Department of Pharmacology (R.W.O.), U.C.L.A. School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California; Institute of Pharmacology (H.M.), ETH and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Biochemical Psychiatry (W.S.)...

Blockade of g-aminobutyric acid (GABAA) receptors in the anterior basolateral amygdala (BLA) with bicuculline methiodide results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and “anxiety” in rats. Glutamate receptors in the BLA are also reported to be involved in eliciting anxiety responses. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction between GABAergic inhibition and glutamater...

Benzodiazepine potentiation of g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmission is associated with the presence of a gamma-2 subunit in the GABAA receptor. A method was developed to modify the gamma-2 subunit expression in adult rat brain. Unilateral intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) infusion of a 17-base phosphorothioate-modified antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ASO) was performed every 12 hr for 3 ...

Background and Purpose—Excitotoxic activation of glutamate receptors is currently thought to play a pivotal role in delayed neuronal death (DND) of highly vulnerable CA1 neurons in the gerbil hippocampus after transient global ischemia. Postischemic degeneration of these neurons can be prevented by “preconditioning” with a short sublethal ischemic stimulus. The present study was designed to tes...

Molecular Neurobiology Unit (E.A.B.), Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, England; Neuroscience Discovery (P.S.), Lilly Research Laboratories, Indianapolis, Indiana; Department of Pharmacology (R.W.O.), U.C.L.A. School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California; Institute of Pharmacology (H.M.), ETH and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Biochemical Psychiatry (W.S.)...

g-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter, activates a persistent low amplitude tonic current in several brain regions in addition to conventional synaptic currents. Here we demonstrate that GABAA receptors mediating the tonic current in hippocampal neurons exhibit functional and pharmacological properties different from those of quantal synaptic currents. Patch-clam...

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Inhibitory g-aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptors are subject to modulation at a variety of allosteric sites, with pharmacology dependent on receptor subunit combination. The influence of different a subunits in combination with b3g2s was examined in stably expressed human recombinant GABAA receptors by measuring Cl influx through the ion channel pore. Muscimol and GABA exhibited similar maximal...

The properties of the human a1b1 g-aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptors were investigated after mutation of a highly conserved leucine residue at the 99 position in the second membrane-spanning region (TM2). The role of this residue in a1 and b1 subunits was examined by mutating the 99 leucine to phenylalanine, tyrosine, or alanine. The mutations were in either the a1 subunit (apb), the b1 subun...

Recently, we demonstrated that cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage enzyme (P450scc) occurs in the rat cerebellar Purkinje cell after differentiation and remains during neonatal development and into adulthood. 3b-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/D-D-isomerase (3bHSD) is also an essential enzyme for progesterone biosynthesis not only in peripheral steroidogenic glands but also in the nervous system. ...