Measurement of GABA following GABA‐transaminase inhibition by gabaculine: A 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopic study of rat brain in vivo

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Abstract
A selective 1H NMR spin‐echo editing method was used to detect the CCH, of GABA in rat brain in vivo before and after intravenous administration of the highly selective GABA transaminase inhibitor, gabaculine (3‐amino‐2,3‐dihydrobenzoic acid‐HCl; 100 mg/kg, intravenously). The effects of the inhibitor on high energy phosphates and pH, were determined by 31P NMR. GABA levels increased approximately linearly (r = 0.81 to 0.94; P < 0.0005) from 1.9 ± 0.4 μmol/g (pre‐gabaculine; mean ± SD) to between 6 and 8 μmollg after 4 hr at rates of accumulation of 1.1 to 2.9 μmol/hr/g. 1H NMR spectroscopic measurements of cerebral GABA and its rate of turnover offers a new approach in the study of GABA‐mediated processes in vivo.