Abstract
ALTHOUGH benzodiazepines are widely used psychotropic drugs their mode of action within the central nervous system (CNS) is controversial1–4. Based on biochemical and pharmacological investigations of various central and peripheral neural substrates, Costa et al.5 and Haefely et al.6 suggested that they act, at least in part, through a facilitation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic transmission. We have tested this hypothesis electrophysiologically at the single unit level in areas of the CNS in which GABA has been unequivocally shown to be an inhibitory transmitter. Single unit recordings were made in neurones of the lateral vestibular nucleus (Deiters) and in Purkinje cells of the cerebellum.
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STEINER, F., FELIX, D. Antagonistic effects of GABA and benzodiazepines on vestibular and cerebellar neurones. Nature 260, 346–347 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260346a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/260346a0
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