Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:

Clozapine upregulates the expression of the vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT) in rat frontal cortex

Molecular Psychiatry volume 12, pages 612–613 (2007)Cite this article

Clozapine is considered the most efficacious antipsychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia, possibly because of its effects on a broad array of molecular targets.1

It has recently been shown that the effects of clozapine on the firing of cortical neurons depend on the neurons' baseline firing rate, inhibiting those with a high firing rate and exciting those with a low firing rate.2 Such a novel effect may conceivably require a concerted action at glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses. Whereas modulatory actions of clozapine on molecules acting at glutamatergic synapses are well established,3, 4 very little is known of its action on molecules acting at GABAergic synapses. Decreased GABA synthesis and release are reportedly the crucial steps in the cascade affecting the cortical GABAergic system in schizophrenia.5 We therefore studied whether clozapine affects the expression of the vesicular GABA transporter, VGAT, which is crucial for GABAergic function and contributes to scaling transmitter storage and release at GABAergic synapses.6, 7

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Roth B, Sheffler DJ, Kroeze WK . Nat Rev Drug Discov 2004; 3: 353–359.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Homayoun H, Moghaddam B . Biol Psychiatry 2007; 61: 679–687.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Leveque J-C, Macias W, Rajadhyaksha A, Carlson RR, Barczak A, Kang S et al. J Neurosci 2000; 20: 4011–4020.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Melone M, Vitellaro-Zuccarello L, Vallejo-Illarramendi A, Perez-Samartin A, Matute C, Cozzi A et al. Mol Psychiatry 2001; 6: 380–386.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lewis DA, Gonzalez-Burgos G . Nature Med 2006; 12: 1016–1022.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wojcik SM, Katsurabayashi S, Guillemin I, Friauf E, Rosenmund C, Brose N et al. Neuron 2006; 50: 575–587.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. De Gois S, Schafer MK, Defamie N, Chen C, Ricci A, Weihe E et al. J Neurosci 2005; 25: 7121–7133.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bragina L, Melone M, Fattorini G, Torres-Ramos M, Vallejo-Illarramendi A, Matute C et al. J Neurochem 2006; 99: 131–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Chaudry FA, Reimer RJ, Bellocchio EE, Danbolt NC, Osen KK, Edwards RH et al. J Neurosci 1998; 18: 9733–9750.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Minelli A, Alonso-Nanclares L, Edwards RH, DeFelipe J, Conti F . Neuroscience 2003; 117: 337–346.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Torrette di Ancona, Ancona, Italy

    L Bragina, M Melone, G Fattorini & F Conti

Authors
  1. L Bragina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M Melone
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. G Fattorini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. F Conti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to F Conti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bragina, L., Melone, M., Fattorini, G. et al. Clozapine upregulates the expression of the vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT) in rat frontal cortex. Mol Psychiatry 12, 612–613 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001987

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001987

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links