Rundown of GABA type A receptors is a dysfunction associated with human drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

ABSTRACT: Pharmacotherapeutic strategies have been difficult to develop for several forms of temporal lobe epilepsy, which are consequently treated by surgical resection. To examine this problem, we have studied the properties of transmitter receptors of tissues removed during surgical treatment. We find that when cell membranes, isolated from the temporal neocortex of patients afflicted with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), are injected into frog oocytes they acquire GABA type A receptors (GABA(A)-receptors) that display a marked rundown during repetitive applications of GABA. In contrast, GABA(A)-receptor function is stable in oocytes injected with cell membranes isolated from the temporal lobe of TLE patients afflicted with neoplastic, dysgenetic, traumatic, or ischemic tempora

SUBMITTER: Ragozzino D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1257725 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature