• Question: Hi my names Connor! What is gamma-aminobutyric acid agonists? just making sure this thing works what would you do with the money if you won the competition?

    Asked by incom378 to Joe on 15 Mar 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by tiny2010.
    • Photo: Joseph Devlin

      Joseph Devlin answered on 15 Mar 2010:

      I was just goofin — GABA is a drug that allows brain cells to communicate. Alcohol is a GABA-agonist — that is, it makes GABA work better. That’s how alcohol works, actually. It changes the way brain cells communicate and that changes a person’s behaviour.

      If I won, I’d use the money for presenting some of our recent results to a big international conference of neuroscientists. It’s a great chance to tell people what we’re up to and find out what’s going on in other labs.

Comments

  • Photo: babehillier2k10

    babehillier2k10 commented on :

    didnt now that

    • Photo: Joe

      Joe commented on :

      It’s strange, isn’t it? We drink alcohol and take it for granted, but very little is known about how it produces the specific effects of “drunkenness”. We know the chemical systems involved but not how this translates into behaviour. Lots of scientists are studying this — it’s a pretty open field of research.

  • Photo: mattdizzle92

    mattdizzle92 commented on :

    i wondered where all this gamma-aminobutyric acid fit into synaptic activity between neurones

  • Photo: Joe

    Joe commented on :

    GABA is a neurotransmitter — in fact, it is the single most common chemical being excreted from one neuron and received by another. As you say, this occurs at synapses.

    There are loads of other neurotransmitters like glutamate, acetylcholine, dopamine, etc. and they all play slightly different roles in neuronal communication. But alcohol really only acts on GABA.