Abstract
THE presence of brain-specific benzodiazepine receptors in membranes from rat brain is now established1–4. Highly significant correlations between the affinities of various benzodiazepines for the benzodiazepine receptor site in rat brain on the one hand and clinically predictive pharmacological activities in several species on the other, strongly suggest that the benzodiazepine receptor in vitro is related to a physiologically relevant receptor for benzodiazepines in vivo. We report here that benzodiazepine receptors are also present in the human brain, that the cerebral and cerebellar cortical regions contain the highest densities of binding sites and that the receptors in human brain are very similar to those in rat brain.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Squires, R. F. & Braestrup, C. Nature 266, 732–734 (1977).
Braestrup, C. & Squires, R. F. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (in the press).
Möohler, H. & Okada, T. Science (in the press).
Möohler, H. & Okada, T. Life Sci. 20, 2101–2110 (1977).
Fahn, S. in GABA in Nervous System Function (eds Roberts. E., Chase. T. N. & Tower, D. B.). 169–186 (Raven, New York, 1976).
Enna, S. J. et al. J. Neurochem 28, 233–236 (1977).
Seeman, P., Lee, T., Chau-Wong, M., Tedesco, J. & Wong, K. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 73, 4354–4358 (1976).
Greenberg, D. A., U'Prichard, D. C. & Snyder, S. H. Life Sci. 19, 69–76 (1976).
Hartman, B. K., Zide, D. & Udenfriend, S. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 69, 2722–2726 (1972).
Möhler, H. & Okada, T. Nature 267, 65–67 (1977).
Fahn, S. in GABA in Nervous System Function (eds Roberts. E., Chase. T. N. & Tower. D. B.) 169–186 (Raven, New York. 1976).
Hughes, J. Brain Res. 88, 295–308 (1975).
Pasternak, G. W., Goodman, R. & Snyder, S. H. Life Sci. 16, 1765–1769 (1975).
Hiller, J. M., Pearson, J. & Simon, E. J. Res. Commun. chem. Path. Pharmac. 6, 1052–1062 (1973).
Powell, D., Leeman, S., Tregear, G. W., Niall, H. D. & Potts, J. T. Jr Nature new Biol. 241, 252–254 (1973).
Laegemiddelkataloget (ed. Jacobsen. E.) (Copenhagen, 1976).
Randall, L. O., Schallek, W., Sternbach, L. H. & Ning, R. Y. in Pshychopharmacological Agents (ed. Gordon, M.) 175–281 (Academic, New York, 1974).
Braestrup, C. & Squires, R. F. Eur. J. Pharmac. (in the press).
Duffy, M. J., Wong, J. & Powell, D. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 2, 1262–1264 (1974).
Ranson, S. W. & Clark, S. L. in The anatomy of the Nervous System. Its development and Function 29–70 (Saunders, Piladelphia & London, 1959).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BRAESTRUP, C., ALBRECHTSEN, R. & SQUIRES, R. High densities of benzodiazepine receptors in human cortical areas. Nature 269, 702–704 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/269702a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/269702a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
