Psycho-Babble Medication | about biological treatments | Framed
This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | List of forums | Search | FAQ

Re: Benzo Research Phil, Noa » medlib

Posted by Snowie on October 15, 2000, at 6:57:06

In reply to Re: Benzo Research Phil, Noa, posted by medlib on October 15, 2000, at 0:20:55

Medlib--

Registration is a requirement for Medscape. I couldn't access Noa's article (I was too lazy to register), but here's your article for those who don't have access to Medscape. I had read it before, and it sounds very promising.

Snowie

GABA-A Alpha-2 Receptor Subunit Proposed as Target for Antianxiety Drugs
--------------------------------------------------

WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Oct 9 - The alpha-2 subtype of gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA-A) receptors mediates the anxiety-relieving effects of benzodiazepines in mice, according to a report in the October 6th issue of Science.

The researchers explain that although they previously linked the sedative and amnesic properties of diazepam to alpha-1 GABA-A receptors, until now it was not possible to identify the GABA-A receptor subtypes that mediate the drug's anxiolytic effects.

Dr. Karin Low, currently at the University of California at San Diego, and colleagues studied the behavioral and physiological effects of diazepam-insensitive mutations in GABA-A receptor subtypes alpha-2 and alpha-3 in mice.

Diazepam-insensitive binding sites increased from 5% in wild-type mice to 17% in alpha-2 mutant mice and 11% in alpha-3 mutant mice, the authors report. The potentiation by diazepam of the normal electrophysiological response to GABA-A was diminished in cultured mouse hippocampal pyramidal cells bearing the alpha-2 mutation.

Diazepam's sedative, motor-impairing, and anticonvulsant effects were retained in both alpha-2 and alpha-3 mutant mice, the researchers note.

In two behavioral tests, alpha-2 mutant mice failed to show the anxiolytic-like effect of diazepam treatment, the investigators observed. Alpha-3 mutant mice and wild-type mice, in contrast, displayed the usual dose-dependent anxiolytic-like response to diazepam.

"The anxiolytic-like action of diazepam is selectively mediated by the enhancement of GABAergic transmission in a population of neurons expressing the alpha-2 GABA-A receptors, which represent only 15% of all diazepam-sensitive GABA-A receptors," the authors conclude. "Our findings indicate that the alpha-2 GABA-A receptors are highly specific targets for the development of future selective anxiolytic drugs."

Science 2000;290:131-134.


> Phil, Noa--
>
> I just came across another summary of the same article in a Medscape newsletter.
>
> http://psychiatry.medscape.com/reuters/prof/2000/10/10.09/20001006scie001.html
>
> Registration shouldn't be required to access this one, but it may not be quite as readable as the Science mag one. I don't know why the URL wouldn't hyperlink, but it can be copy/pasted.
>
> Info looks promising.--medlib
>
>
> >Phil, I just found the article about this research. It is in the current (October 6, 2000, vol 290) issue of Science. On page 23 there is a news article about it (for us lay folks) and on page 131 is the research report. I don't know about others, but I think this is big news. Here is the summary from the online site for Science magazine:
> >
> > NEUROSCIENCE:
> > A Possible Target for Better Benzodiazepines
> >
> > Laura Helmuth
> >
> > Pharmacologists have tried for years to distill the desirable effects of
> > benzodiazepines from the undesirable ones; now a team of neuroscientists has
> > shown that such a strategy could well succeed. Benzodiazepines work by
> > amplifying the action of the neurotransmitter GABA, the brain's main "off" switch,
> > and in work described on page 131, a group has pinpointed one particular
> > subtype of the GABA receptor as the source of benzodiazepines'
> > anxiety-reducing powers.
> >
> > The url for this summary is:
> >
> > http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/290/5489/23b?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=benzodiazepines++valium&searchid=QID_NOT_SET&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=&fdate=10/1/2000&tdate=10/31/2000
> >
> > Unfortunately, registration is required to get into their site, and a subscription is required to read the full text. I read the old fashioned way--at the good ole bricks and mortar public library.


Share
Tweet  

Thread

 

Post a new follow-up

Your message only Include above post


Notify the administrators

They will then review this post with the posting guidelines in mind.

To contact them about something other than this post, please use this form instead.

 

Start a new thread

 
Google
dr-bob.org www
Search options and examples
[amazon] for
in

This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | FAQ
Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:Snowie thread:45948
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001012/msgs/46399.html