Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Reductions in 2 neurotransmitter synthesizing enzymes in brain, glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and choline acetyltransferase (CAT), have been found in dementias of different origins, including senile dementia (Alzheimer type). Significant reductions in cerebral GAD have also been found in depression (unipolar). The GAD reductions did not generally appear to be localised in any specific region of the brain examined. However, the reduction of CAT in the hippocampus, relative to reductions in other areas examined, was substantially greater in the brains with Alzheimer-type changes. GAD and CAT activities in normal brains were examined for the effects of some variable factors inherent in necropsy biochemical measurements. These factors included: (i) age; (ii) agonal status; (iii) time of death, and (iv) delay in tissue sampling; and GAD was found to be significantly influenced by (ii), (iii) and (iv) and CAT by (i), (iii) and (iv). None of these factors accounted for the total alterations in the enzyme activities of the mentally abnormal brains. The results indicate that reductions in cerebral GAD require to be interpreted with caution in view of the sensitivity of this enzyme to premortem status but that reductions in cerebral CAT may be a more reliable index of pathological change in senile (Alzheimer-type) dementia.
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PMID:Neurotransmitter enzyme abnormalities in senile dementia. Choline acetyltransferase and glutamic acid decarboxylase activities in necropsy brain tissue. 14 89

A few mouse minimum lethal doses (MLD) of tetanus toxin injected into rat hippocampus triggers prolonged changes in neuronal function. Spontaneously recurring epileptic discharges arise in both the injected and the contralateral, uninjected hippocampus. The seizures remit after about 6 weeks, to be succeeded by a permanent depression of hippocampal neuronal responses. There is no evidence of any loss of pyramidal cells at this low dose of toxin. Here we studied presumptive inhibitory, GABAergic neurons, using in situ hybridization (ISH) with a probe directed against the mRNA encoding glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), at each of 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after injection of tetanus toxin. Epileptic activity was recorded from hippocampal slices prepared from both injected and contralateral hippocampi of rats at each time point, unexpectedly persisting until 8 weeks. There were no significant differences in the numbers of neurons containing GAD mRNA between toxin- and vehicle-injected and control rats in any hippocampal subfield, at any survival time, except for an apparently transient loss of hilar signal in vehicle-injected rats at 1 and 2 weeks which we attribute to a significant, transient loss of neuronal GAD mRNA to below the threshold for detection by ISH using this probe. In contrast there was a marked increase in GAD mRNA in the toxin-injected group, which reached a peak at 4 weeks, and returned to control levels by 8 weeks. The changes were bilateral and were most marked in the hilus of the dentate area, but were also significant in CA3 and CA1. Upregulation of GAD mRNA was preceded by an increase in the levels of the mRNA for the alpha subunit of the GTP binding protein, Gs (Gs alpha), at 2 weeks which affected the GABAergic neurons selectively, and not the pyramidal or granule cells. These marked changes in GAD mRNA may contribute to putative adaptive responses within GABAergic neurons, which would help contain epileptic activity in these chronic foci. The changes in GAD expression may be due to mechanisms acting through an increase in mRNA encoding Gs alpha.
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PMID:Increased expression of GAD mRNA during the chronic epileptic syndrome due to intrahippocampal tetanus toxin. 139 47

We have investigated the involvement of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in depression by quantitating benzodiazepine (BZ) binding sites, the ability of GABA to stimulate BZ binding and glutamic acid decarboxylase activity in frontal and temporal cortex obtained at postmortem examination from 21 suicide victims and 21 age- and sex-matched controls. We limited our study to suicide victims with clear evidence of depression, in the absence of symptoms of other psychiatric disorders. Thirteen of the depressed suicide victims had not been prescribed psychoactive drugs recently and none were found in their blood at postmortem; of the remaining 8 suicides, 6 were receiving antidepressant drugs, alone or in combination with other drugs. The number of BZ binding sites was significantly greater (by 18%) in the frontal cortex of the total group of depressed suicides compared to controls, but did not differ in the temporal cortex. The increase in the number of BZ binding sites in the frontal cortex was of similar magnitude when drug-free (16%), drug-treated (21%) and antidepressant-treated suicides (16%) were compared to matched controls, although the increase was only statistically significant for the drug-treated suicides. The Kd of BZ binding and the ability of GABA to stimulate BZ binding did not differ significantly between controls and the total, drug-free, drug-treated or antidepressant-treated suicides in either cortical area. Glutamic acid decarboxylase activity did not differ significantly between control and suicide groups, but was markedly reduced in subjects dying by carbon monoxide poisoning. The present study provides evidence for a greater number of BZ binding sites in the frontal cortex of depressed suicide victims, which could not clearly be attributed to drug treatment.
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PMID:Brain GABAA/benzodiazepine binding sites and glutamic acid decarboxylase activity in depressed suicide victims. 285 68

Although alcoholic intoxication is attributed to its pharmacological effects on the cell membranes in brain, the rapid metabolic utilisation of the same alters the metabolism of brain affecting the metabolism of glutamate and GABA which have varied metabolic roles besides serving a major proportion of synaptic activity. A study on the effects of ethanol, both acute and short-term, on glutamate (glu) and GABA metabolism in various regions of rat brain was carried out. Increased activities of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and aspartic acid aminotransferase (AST) in all brain regions, but decreased activity of glutamic acid dehydrogenase (GDH) in cerebral cortex (CC) and cerebellum (CB) following ethanol administration in brain was observed. Differential effects of ethanol were also obtained on the contents of glu and aspartate (asp), which were increased in CC, CB, and brain stem (BS) regions, as opposed to GABA content, which, although found to increase in acute toxicity, showed a decrease in all of the above brain regions in short-term toxicity. It is concluded that the above changes in glu, asp and GABA represent the consequences of metabolic utilization of alcohol in the brain, probably more a state of cerebral excitation than depression, and the changes may be a compensatory phenomenon.
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PMID:Acute and short term effects of ethanol on the metabolism of glutamic acid and GABA in rat brain. 285 37

Motilin, [Met]enkephalin, [Leu]enkephalin, somatostatin, taurine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and glycine were tested for their effects on Deiters neurons of the lateral vestibular nucleus in rabbits. Iontophoresis was carried out with multibarrelled micropipettes. All four peptides and three amino acids produced depression of neuron firing. No facilitatory responses were observed. The depressant action of each peptide when iontophoresed alone was dose-dependent and was rapid in onset and recovery. Their characteristic actions suggest the possibility of their independent roles as strong inhibitors, although the experimental paradigm does not allow conclusions about the individual potency of each peptide. When GABA was administered together with motilin, [Met]enkephalin, or somatostatin, the effects of the peptide and GABA were additive, producing depression greater than that with application of either substance alone. When GABA was applied in conjunction with [Leu]enkephalin, more complex interactions were observed. At low iontophoretic currents, [Leu]enkephalin antagonized the action of GABA, producing a depression less than that of GABA alone and of considerably slower onset, suggesting an additional modulatory effect. These observations support the conclusion that all substances tested are chemical mediators in the lateral vestibular nucleus and [Leu]enkephalin may be a neuromodulator as well. Because recent immunocytochemical studies indicate that Purkinje cells in the cerebellar cortex are chemically heterogeneous and exhibit immunoreactivity for motilin, taurine, the enkephalins, and somatostatin, as well as for the GABA-synthesizing enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase, it is suggested that the Purkinje cell projections to vestibular and cerebellar nuclei are multimodal in their chemical coding. The uniformly depressant action of the peptides and amino acids reported here is consistent with earlier observations that Purkinje cells exert an inhibitory influence on the vestibular and central cerebellar nuclei.
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PMID:Inhibitory effects of motilin, somatostatin, [Leu]enkephalin, [Met]enkephalin, and taurine on neurons of the lateral vestibular nucleus: interactions with gamma-aminobutyric acid. 612 70

Following eight monthly haloperidol decanoate injections rats showed an increased rate of vacuous chewing movements (VCM's), which gradually disappeared within 4 drug-free months. Another single dose of non-decanoate haloperidol reinstated a second increase in VCM rate which was still significant after 2 months. The glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activity in the substantia nigra of these chronically haloperidol-treated rats was lower than untreated controls. Furthermore, there was a significant negative correlation between individual VCM rates and nigral GAD activity. No corresponding changes occurred in other brain regions. The depression of nigral GAD may reflect a reduced tissue density of GABA-ergic axon terminals within the descending striato-nigral pathway.
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PMID:Reduction of nigral glutamic acid decarboxylase in rats with neuroleptic-induced oral dyskinesia. 613 37

The vulnerability of striatal and hippocampal neurons to ischemia was studied by measuring the activity of neurotransmitter-related enzymes after transient forebrain ischemia in rats. Activities of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and choline acetyltransferase (CAT) were measured 6 h to 8 days after 20, 30 or 40 min of forebrain ischemia, as markers for GABAergic and cholinergic neurons respectively. Transient forebrain ischemia resulted in depression of striatal GAD activity while striatal CAT and hippocampal GAD activities were unaffected. Striatal GAD activity progressively decreased during the first 24 h postischemia and remained depressed 5--8 days later, suggesting irreversible damage to this population of neurons. The stability of striatal CAT and hippocampal GAD activity indicates that these cells were resistant to the present ischemic conditions.
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PMID:The response of GABAergic and cholinergic neurons to transient cerebral ischemia. 710 39

The effects of coriaria lactone (CL) on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) secretion, glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activity and glutamate (Glu) receptor binding were studied by using cultured neurons, P2 component and synaptic membranes from rat cerebral cortex. It was found that GABA secretion was depressed by CL, the depression rate was 8.3%, 10.6%, 14.5% at 12h 24h 48h respectively. GAD activity was depressed by CL in concentration of 0.15-150 mumol/L. The depression rate was 1.32%, 5.96%, 13.24%, 18.76% respectively. The Glu receptor binding capability was decreased by CL with obvious dose-effect relation in the extent of 2.8-350 mumol/L; the decrease rate was 4.4%, 12.7%, 15.2%, 19.5% respectively. The difference was significant as compared to control (P < 0.01).
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PMID:[Coriaria lactone on gamma-aminobutyric acid secretion and glutamic acid decarboxylase and its receptor binding in rat]. 755 51

The MAO inhibitor phenelzine (2-phenylethylhydrazine; PLZ) is used widely in psychiatry for the treatment of depression and panic disorder. Its N-acetyl metabolite, N2-acetylphenelzine (N2AcPLZ) is a reasonably potent nonselective inhibitor of monoamine oxidase (MAO) that causes elevation in brain levels of the biogenic amines. In the studies reported here, PLZ (0.05 mmol/kg/day), N2AcPLZ (0.10 mmol/kg/day) or vehicle were administered to male rats for 28 days s.c. with Alzet minipumps, and their effects on GABAergic function were examined. Whole brain concentrations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were significantly elevated in the PLZ but not in the N2AcPLZ-treated group. PLZ was found to inhibit the anabolic enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and, to a greater extent, the catabolic enzyme GABA transaminase (GABA-T). The results of these investigations suggest that the free hydrazine moiety in PLZ is crucial to producing the elevated levels of GABA, probably through inhibition of GABA-T. Despite the considerable increase in whole brain GABA levels in the PLZ-treated rats, there were no significant differences in GABAA or benzodiazepine receptor binding parameters (KD or Bmax) between the groups as measured using 3H-muscimol and 3H-flunitrazepam in radioligand binding assays.
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PMID:Chronic administration of the antidepressant phenelzine and its N-acetyl analogue: effects on GABAergic function. 793 Dec 16

There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that GABA plays an important role in the therapeutic effects of antidepressant/antipanic drugs. Phenelzine and imipramine are efficacious in the treatment of depression and panic disorder and phenelzine has been reported to elevate GABA levels while imipramine enhances GABA release in rat brains. In the present study, using a multiprobe quantitative solution hybridization assay, we measured the steady-state levels of mRNAs that encode glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD67 and GAD65), the GABA transporter GAT-1 and GABA transaminase (GABA-T) in rat cortex after treatment with constant infusion (via osmotic minipumps) of phenelzine or imipramine for a short-term (3 days) or long-term (21 days) period. We found that none of the treatments gave rise to significant changes in the steady-state levels of mRNAs encoding GAD67, GAD65 or GABA-T at any time point. The steady-state levels of GAT-1 mRNA were increased significantly (23%) after long-term, but not by short-term, treatment with phenelzine. Imipramine treatment, short- or long-term, did not alter the steady-state levels of GAT-1 mRNA. These results suggest that the GABA enhancing effects of phenelzine or imipramine in rat cortex do not affect the steady-state levels of mRNAs that encode GAD67, GAD65 and GABA-T. Further, the previously observed increases in GABA levels or GABA release induced by these drugs are probably not a consequence of changes in the expression of these genes.
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PMID:Effects of phenelzine and imipramine on the steady-state levels of mRNAs that encode glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD67 and GAD65), the GABA transporter GAT-1 and GABA transaminase in rat cortex. 945 70


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