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GABA receptors make teens resistant to input

Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 397–399 (2007)Cite this article

Neurosteroids generally reduce anxiety, but a new paper shows that they promote anxiety in female mice around puberty via the selective desensitization of extrasynaptic GABAA receptors made up of α4β2δ subunits. This change increases input resistance and excitation of hippocampal pyramidal neurons, thus promoting anxiety.

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Figure 1: Hippocampal GABAA receptors containing α4β2δ subunits are inhibited, not enhanced, by THP.

Katie Ris

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  1. The author is in the Departments of Physiology and Psychiatry, University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine, 655 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA. mmccarth@umaryland.edu,

    Margaret M McCarthy

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  1. Margaret M McCarthy
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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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McCarthy, M. GABA receptors make teens resistant to input. Nat Neurosci 10, 397–399 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0407-397

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