Prolonged Zaleplon Treatment Increases the Expression of Proteins Involved in GABAergic and Glutamatergic Signaling in the Rat Hippocampus.

ABSTRACT: Zaleplon is a positive allosteric modulator of the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)_A receptor approved for the short-term treatment of insomnia. Previous publications on zaleplon have not addressed the proteins involved in its mechanism of action but have mostly referred to behavioral or pharmacological studies. Since both GABAergic and glutamatergic signaling have been shown to regulate wakefulness and sleep, we examined the effects of prolonged zaleplon treatment (0.625 mg/kg for 5 days) on these systems in the hippocampus of male Wistar rats. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses showed that the upregulated components of GABAergic signaling (glutamate decarboxylase, vesicular GABA transporter, GABA, and α1 subunit of the GABA_A receptor) were accompanied by increa

SUBMITTER: Martinovic J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10741523 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature