PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - András Fáncsik
AU  - David M. Linn
AU  - Jeffrey G. Tasker
TI  - Neurosteroid Modulation of GABA IPSCs Is Phosphorylation Dependent
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.20-09-03067.2000
DP  - 2000 May 01
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 3067--3075
VI  - 20
IP  - 9
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/20/9/3067.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/20/9/3067.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2000 May 01; 20
AB  - The neurosteroid 3α-hydroxy-5α-pregnan-20-one (allopregnanolone) facilitates GABAAreceptor-mediated ionic currents via allosteric modulation of the GABAA receptor. Accordingly, allopregnanolone caused an increase in the slow decay time constant of spontaneous GABA-mediated IPSCs in magnocellular neurons recorded in hypothalamic slices. The allopregnanolone effect on IPSCs was inhibited by a G-protein antagonist as well as by blocking protein kinase C and, to a lesser extent, cAMP-dependent protein kinase activities. G-protein and protein kinase C activation in the absence of the neurosteroid had no effect on spontaneous IPSCs but enhanced the effect of subsequent allopregnanolone application. These findings together suggest that the neurosteroid modulation of GABA-mediated IPSCs requires G-protein and protein kinase activation, although not via a separate G-protein-coupled steroid receptor.