Table 1. Summary of the chemical and pharmacological properties of the caged GABA probes that have been extensively tested on living neurons.

Caged GABA	ε	φ	ε.φ	rate	2PP	Pharmacology	Stability	Solubility
CNB16	430a	0.14	60	21 μs	no	Partial antagonist	Half-life 17 h RT.	>50 mM
BC20419	14000b	0.04	560	4 ms	ND	No antagonism < 30 μM	Stable	ND
RuBi20	6400c	0.2	1280	ND	ND	No antagonism < 20 μM	Stable	ND
CNI18	4200d	0.1	420	ND	Yes	strong antagonist at 10 μM	Stable at− 20°C	200 μM
CDNI	6400d	0.6	3840	ND	Yes	Mild antagonist at 0.4 μM	Stable pH 2, pH 7.4 6% hydrolysis 17h −20°C	100 μM

Abbreviations and symbols: ε, extinction coefficient (M-1 cm-1), φ, quantum yield, ND, no data, 2PP, two-photon photolysis.

^aat 350 nm,

^bat 377 nm,

^cat 424 nm,

^dat 330 nm.