Differential Effects of Thiopental and Pentobarbital on Spinal GABAA Receptors |
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Authors: | Chuan-Xiu Yang Xiao-Bing Zhang Neng Gong Meng-Ya Wang Tian-Le Xu |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Neurobiology, Medical College of Soochow University, 199 Ren-Ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, 215123, China;(2) Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China;(3) Laboratory of Cell Electrophysiology, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, 241001, China |
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Abstract: | General anesthetics thiopental and pentobarbital possess very similar chemical structures whereas their clinical potency is
quite different. The underlying molecular mechanism is not fully understood. This study was designed to assess the differential
effects of thiopental and pentobarbital on GABAA receptors of mechanically dissociated rat spinal dorsal horn neurons by using whole-cell patch-clamp technique. Pentobarbital,
at a concentration of 30 μM, which markedly enhanced sub-saturated GABA-induced current (I
GABA), had no effect on thiopental-induced maximal current. Similarly, the pentobarbital-induced maximal current was also not
affected by 30 μM thiopental. Moreover, a linear summation of thiopental-induced maximal current and pentobarbital-induced
sub-maximal current was observed. In addition, pentobarbital failed to further enhance I
GABA in the presence of thiopental at a concentration with maximal modulatory effects on I
GABA, and vice versa. Our results thus suggest that thiopental and pentobarbital might exert the GABA mimetic effects independently,
but share a common mechanism to produce the GABA modulatory effects.
Special issue article in honor of Dr. Ji-Sheng Han. |
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Keywords: | Thiopental Pentobarbital GABAA receptors Mechanically dissociated neuron Spinal cord dorsal horn |
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