Presence of a low molecular weight endogenous inhibitor on 3H-muscimol binding in synaptic membranes

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Abstract
The specific binding of 3H-muscimol to synaptic membrane preparations obtained from the rat brain has been thought to reflect the association of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a potential candidate as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS), with its synaptic receptors1,2. Treatment of synaptic membranes with Triton X-100 significantly increases the specific binding of 3H-muscimol2. Several reports also indicate the presence of endogenous substances, such as GABA3, acidic protein4 and phosphatidylethanolamine5, which inhibit Na-independent binding of 3H-GABA in the synaptic membranous fractions from the rat brain. We report here that in the supernatant obtained from Triton-treated synaptic membranes there exists a new type of endogenous inhibitor of 3H-muscimol binding which is apparently different from the inhibitory substances described previously3–5. The new inhibitor has a low molecular weight (MW) and probably originated from neurones rather than glial cells. We have termed this endogenous inhibitor the GABA receptor binding inhibitory factor (GRIF).