GABA

[RTandon]

Just to clarify,

Bendozipines have an agonistic effect because they stimulate GABA which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Yes?

[pyro-53]

My teacher told us that we only need to say "medications that mimics the actions of GABA" 

[Russ]

Benzodiazepines don't stimulate GABA itself, they bind the GABA receptor and make it easier for GABA to have an effect

I doubt you need to know any more detail than what you've already said

[RTandon]

Great! Thank you! (:

[Oliver_123]

Yep they are GABA agonists and thus imitate the effect of GABA

[slothpomba]

Just to clarify,

Bendozipines have an agonistic effect because they stimulate GABA which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Yes?

Finally a pharmacology related topic on these boards!

This isn't exactly right but i'm not sure what you need to know for VCE....you might want to look into it.

They kind of "enhance" the action or ability of GABA to work rather than act as GABA receptor agonists.

This might help:



VCE dumbs certain things down to a degree though, so, i guess, know only what you need to.

[Note: Never did VCE Psych or uni level straight up psych, i don't know whats needed to know, look into this yourselves]

[HiddenUser]

Is it fine to say that they stimulate the activity of GABA?

[Genericname2365]

Is it fine to say that they stimulate the activity of GABA?

Last year on the assessment report they had "...mimics the action of GABA" and thus 'inhibits the over-activation of physical responses...".  So I'm just going to go with "mimic".

[slothpomba]

Last year on the assessment report they had "...mimics the action of GABA" and thus 'inhibits the over-activation of physical responses...".  So I'm just going to go with "mimic".

D: But thats wrong

[Tomw2]

D: But thats wrong

Yes. I've noticed the VCE psych curriculum oversimplifies a lot of concepts for brevity - sometimes it goes too far and comes at the expense of accuracy.

[brenden]

Wait so do benzos inhibit or excite?

[Tomw2]

Wait so do benzos inhibit or excite?

As per kingpomba's post above - benzos increase GABAergic activity. The result is net inhibition.

[Soul_Khan]

Wait so do benzos inhibit or excite?

my logic is that since benzos imitate GABA (since they are GABA agonists) they inhibit.. not completely sure these uni peeps are confusing us vce boizz

[Tomw2]

Wait so do benzos inhibit or excite?

my logic is that since benzos imitate GABA (since they are GABA agonists) they inhibit.. not completely sure these uni peeps are confusing us vce boizz

They don't imitate and they are not agonists. They bind to and change the receptors.

By doing this, they increase the action of GABA.

[tortoise]

This is what Grivas says:

"Benzodiazepines are GABA agonists. Therefore, they imitate GABA and stimulate activity at the site of postsynaptic neuron where GABA is received from a presynaptic  ('sending') neuron. In this way, benzodiazepines have inhibitatory effects on postsynaptic neurons throughout brain and reduce symptoms of anxiety by imitating GABA's inhibitory effects."