Publications [#267579] of Rochelle D. Schwartz-Bloom

Other Faculty Listings:   Faculty Alphabetically | By Rank | By Area

Journal Articles

1. Suzdak, PD; Schwartz, RD; Skolnick, P; Paul, SM. "Ethanol stimulates gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor-mediated chloride transport in rat brain synaptoneurosomes.." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 83.11 (June, 1986): 4071-4075. [2424017], [doi]
   (last updated on 2023/06/01)

   Abstract:
   The effects of ethanol on Cl- uptake were studied using a cell-free subcellular preparation from brain that contains a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)/barbiturate receptor-sensitive Cl- transport system. In isolated vesicles prepared from rat cerebral cortex, ethanol, at concentrations that are present during acute intoxication (20-50 mM), stimulated 36Cl- uptake in a concentration-dependent and biphasic manner. The ethanol-stimulated uptake of 36Cl- was markedly inhibited by the GABA antagonists picrotoxin and bicuculline but not by a variety of other neurotransmitter receptor antagonists. The effects of ethanol in stimulating 36Cl- uptake in isolated brain vesicles were qualitatively and quantitatively similar to that of pentobarbital. Ethanol also markedly potentiated both muscimol- and pentobarbital-stimulated 36Cl- uptake at concentrations below those that directly stimulate 36Cl- uptake. Under our incubation conditions, ethanol did not release GABA, suggesting that it interacts with the postsynaptic GABA/barbiturate receptor complex. The ability of ethanol to stimulate GABA/barbiturate receptor-mediated Cl- transport may explain many of its pharmacological properties and provides a mechanism for the common psychopharmacological actions of ethanol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines.