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A Physiological Role of the Benzodiazepine/GABA Receptor-Chloride Ionophore Complex in Stress

  • Chapter
Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Responsiveness

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 221))

Abstract

Both direct and correlative evidence suggests that the principal pharmacologic actions of the benzodiazepines are mediated by high affinity, stereospecific recognition sites (receptors) found exclusively in tissue derived from the neural crest. The rapid advances in our understanding of the relationship of benzodiazepine receptors to (a subpopulation of) γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA, the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter in mammalian brain) receptors and an associated chloride channel have resulted in new insights about the molecular pharmacology of the benzodiazepines and other psychoactive drugs which share pharmacologic actions with the benzodiazepines (e.g. barbiturates, ethanol). In contrast, the physiological roles of this “benzodiazepine receptor complex” are not well understood, and the physiological relevance of benzodiazepine receptors has been questioned (cf. Guidotti, et al., 1983). This chapter will briefly summarize the evidence implicating the benzodiazepine receptor complex in the response to stress and anxiety, and present some recent findings from our laboratory which supports this hypothesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, NIADDK, USA

    Hratchia Havoundjian, Ramon Trullas & Phil Skolnick

  2. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA

    Hratchia Havoundjian

  3. Clinical Neuroscience Branch, NIMH, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Steven Paul

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  1. Hratchia Havoundjian
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  2. Ramon Trullas
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  3. Steven Paul
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  4. Phil Skolnick
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont, USA

    Yigal H. Ehrlich , Robert H. Lenox  & Elizabeth Kornecki ,  & 

  2. Bolling A.F. Base, U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Washington, D.C., USA

    William O. Berry

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Havoundjian, H., Trullas, R., Paul, S., Skolnick, P. (1987). A Physiological Role of the Benzodiazepine/GABA Receptor-Chloride Ionophore Complex in Stress. In: Ehrlich, Y.H., Lenox, R.H., Kornecki, E., Berry, W.O. (eds) Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Responsiveness. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 221. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7618-7_33

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7618-7_33

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