A search for endogenous modulators of the GABA receptor in different regions of the rat CNS.

The possible existence of endogenous substances other than ?-aminobutyric acid (GABA), that can also bind to rat brain GABA receptors, has been investigated in synaptic membranes derived from whole rat brain, or from cerebral cortex; as well as in isolated synaptic vesicles obtained from cerebral cortex, striatum, hypothalamus, cerebellum and spinal cord and in the superfusion fluid of electrically stimulated brain cortex slices, where a GABA-like substance is released by a calcium-dependent process. The detector used to study the presence of such presumed non-GABA endogenous ligands, were frozen and thawed rat brain synaptic membranes, that had been treated with 0.05% Triton X-100 and thoroughly washed. With this highly sensitive preparation, at least 5 pmol of GABA/ml could be detected. The extracts of the different preparations where these hypothetical ligands were looked for, were analyzed by means of gel filtration on Sephadez G-10, paper chromatography and high voltage electrophoresis. In a very great number of experiments performed, the only endogenous ligand detected was GABA itself. The possible influence of a number of peptides on binding of GABA to its receptor, was also looked for. No significant effect was found for substance P, neurotensin, cholecystokinin octapeptide sulfated, somatostatin, thyrotropin releasing hormone, luteinizing hormone releasing hormone, methionine enkephalin (all 10(?5) M), angiotensin II (10(?4) M), ACTH (3 x 10(?7)M), poly-l-lysine (30 ?g/ml) or poly-l-glutamate (30 ?g/ml).