ABSTRACT In the late 1970s, we discovered that toxic bicyclic phosphates inhibit generation of miniature inhibitory junction potentials, implying their antagonism ?-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors (GABARs; GABA-gated chloride channels). This unique mode action provided a strong incentive for our research on GABARs in later years. Furthermore, minor structural changes conferred insect GABAR s...

background: γ-aminobutyric acid (gaba) is considered to be the predominant inhibitory neurotransmitter in mammalian central nervous systems (cns). there are two major classes of gaba receptors: gabaars and gababrs. the gabaa receptor is derived from various subunits such as alpha1-alpha 6, beta1-beta 3, gamma1-gamma 4, delta, epsilon, pi, and rho1-3. intensive research has been performed to un...

GABAergic feedback inhibition from amacrine cells shapes visual signaling in the inner retina. Rod bipolar cells (RBCs), ON-sensitive cells that depolarize in response to light increments, receive reciprocal GABAergic feedback from A17 amacrine cells and additional GABAergic inputs from other amacrine cells located laterally in the inner plexiform layer. The circuitry and synaptic mechanisms un...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) modulates several distinct aspects of synaptic transmission, including GABAergic transmission. Exposure to BDNF alters properties of GABA(A) receptors and induces changes in the expression level at the cell surface. Although phospholipase C-related inactive protein-1 (PRIP-1) plays an important role in GABA(A) receptor trafficking and function, its role ...

Ionotropic GABA(A) receptors are a highly heterogenous population of receptors assembled from a combination of multiple subunits. The aims of this study were to characterize the potency of GABA at human recombinant δ-containing extrasynaptic GABA(A) receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes using the two-electrode voltage clamp technique, and to investigate, using site-directed mutagenesis, the mo...

GABA(A) receptors composed of alpha(1), beta(2), gamma(1) subunits are expressed in only a few areas of the brain and thus represent interesting drug targets. The pharmacological properties of this receptor subtype, however, are largely unknown. In the present study, we expressed alpha(1)beta(2)gamma(1)-GABA(A) receptors in Xenopus laevis oocytes and analyzed their modulation by 21 ligands from...

NATURE REVIEWS | NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 4 | DECEMBER2003 | 937 GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) is a classical inhibitory neurotransmitter, although it has been suggested that it might mediate excitation in some adult neurons. Beg and Jorgensen, writing in Nature Neuroscience, have characterized an unusual GABA receptor that is selective for cations rather than anions, giving it an excitatory effect. Th...

Objective(s): Many studies have focused on ventral tegmental area than of other mesocorticolimbic areas, and implicated a key role for the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the development of addictive behaviors. So far, the role of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors in the discriminative properties of morphine has received little attention and few studies evaluated the role of these rec...

Synaptic clustering of GABAA receptors is important for the function of inhibitory synapses, influencing synapse strength and, consequently, the balance of excitation and inhibition in the brain. Presynaptic terminals are known to induce GABAA receptor clustering during synaptogenesis, but the mechanisms of cluster formation and maintenance are not known. To study how presynaptic neurons direct...

γ-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) and its receptors, GABAA,B,C, are expressed in several locations along the gastrointestinal tract. Nevertheless, a role for GABA in enteric synaptic transmission remains elusive. In this study, we characterized the expression and function of GABA in the myenteric plexus of the mouse ileum. About 8% of all myenteric neurons were found to be GABA-immunoreactive (GABA+) ...