Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Bhat R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2823917 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Bhat Roopa R Axtell Robert R Mitra Ananya A Miranda Melissa M Lock Christopher C Tsien Richard W RW Steinman Lawrence L
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20100201 6
GABA, the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult brain, has a parallel inhibitory role in the immune system. We demonstrate that immune cells synthesize GABA and have the machinery for GABA catabolism. Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) express functional GABA receptors and respond electrophysiologically to GABA. Thus, the immune system harbors all of the necessary constituents for GABA signaling, and GABA itself may function as a paracrine or autocrine factor. These observations led us ...[more]