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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jul 19.
Published in final edited form as: Prog Brain Res. 2010;186:113–137. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53630-3.00008-7

Figure 3. Neurosteroid potentiation of GABA-A receptor-mediated currents.

Figure 3

(A) Neurosteroids have specific allosteric binding site on the GABA-A receptors, which are pentameric structures made of 2α, 2β,1γ or δ subunit that form chloride ion channel. The binding site(s) for the neurosteroids is separate from that of the benzodiazepine and barbiturate sites. (B) The neurosteroid androstanediol causes an increase in GABA-gated chloride currents in acutely dissociated hippocampal CA1 neurons in the whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiological recordings. (C) The concentration-dependent increase in GABA potentiation by androstanediol in CA1 neurons.