| First Author | Korpi ER | Year | 1993 |
| Journal | Nature | Volume | 361 |
| Issue | 6410 | Pages | 356-9 |
| PubMed ID | 7678923 | Mgi Jnum | J:43340 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1099750 | Doi | 10.1038/361356a0 |
| Citation | Korpi ER, et al. (1993) Benzodiazepine-induced motor impairment linked to point mutation in cerebellar GABAA receptor [see comments]. Nature 361(6410):356-9 |
| abstractText | The selectively outbred alcohol-non-tolerant (ANT) rat line is highly susceptible to impairment of postural reflexes by benzodiazepine agonists such as diazepam. ANT cerebella are generally devoid of diazepam-insensitive high-affinity binding of the benzodiazepine [3H]Ro15-4513, whereas in non-selected strains such binding marks a granule-cell-specific GABAA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) receptor containing the alpha 6 subunit. A critical determinant for diazepam insensitivity of this 'wild-type' cerebellar GABAA receptor is an arginine residue in alpha 6 position 100, where other alpha subunits carry a histidine. Here we report that the alpha 6 gene of ANT rats is expressed at wild-type levels but carries a point mutation generating an arginine-to-glutamine substitution at position 100. In consequence, alpha 6(Q100)beta 2 gamma 2 receptors show diazepam-mediated potentiation of GABA-activated currents and diazepam-sensitive binding of [3H]Ro15-4513. Our results suggest that cerebellar motor control may be a distinct behavioural correlate of the alpha 6-subunit-containing GABAA receptor subtype. |
