INTERACTION OF PENTOBARBITONE AND γ‐AMINOBUTYRIC ACID ON MAMMALIAN SYMPATHETIC GANGLION CELLS

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Abstract
1 Interactions of bath-applied pentobarbitone and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on neurones in isolated superior cervical ganglia of the rat have been examined with intracellular microelectrodes. 2 Pentobarbitone itself (30 μm-1 mm) showed no clear or consistent GABA-like effects: changes in resting input conductance and membrane potential were small and variable. 3 Pentobarbitone (100 μm) strikingly enhanced the conductance increases produced by GABA and 3-aminopropanesulphonic acid, and reversed the depression of GABA-evoked responses by bicucul-line. 4 It is concluded that reversal of bicuculline action at the membrane conductance level might be explained by augmentation of GABA-action. This augmentation cannot be attributed to ‘partial agonist’ properties of pentobarbitone or to interference with glial transport processes.