GABA-A channel blocker
GABA-A receptor channel blocker
- Loss of inhibition → hyperexcitability and seizures
- The classic convulsant tool — no therapeutic use
- Neuronal overstimulation → seizures
- Pentetrazol – used to induce seizures for shock therapy in the 1930s prior to debut of electroconvulsive therapy (1938)
- Flurothyl - used experimentally (by inhalation) for shock therapy in 1953 as an alternative to ECT
- Picrotoxin (from certain berries)
- Thujone (from wormwood, sage)
- ➔ flavoring component of absinthe
Drugs with this mechanism (1)
- Picrotoxin — Plant convulsant that blocks the GABA-A chloride channel; a laboratory tool, not a medicine.
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