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    Nat Neurosci. 2008 Mar;11(3):354-9. Epub 2008 Jan 27.

    Modulation of GABAA receptor desensitization uncouples sleep onset and maintenance in Drosophila.

    Agosto J, Choi JC, Parisky KM, Stilwell G, Rosbash M, Griffith LC.

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham, Massachusetts 02454-9110, USA.

    Many lines of evidence indicate that GABA and GABA(A) receptors make important contributions to human sleep regulation. Pharmacological manipulation of these receptors has differential effects on sleep onset and sleep maintenance insomnia. Here we show that sleep is regulated by GABA in Drosophila and that a mutant GABA(A) receptor, Rdl(A302S), specifically decreases sleep latency. The drug carbamazepine (CBZ) has the opposite effect on sleep; it increases sleep latency as well as decreasing sleep. Behavioral and physiological experiments indicated that Rdl(A302S) mutant flies are resistant to the effects of CBZ on sleep latency and that mutant RDL(A302S) channels are resistant to the effects of CBZ on desensitization, respectively. These results suggest that this biophysical property of the channel, specifically channel desensitization, underlies the regulation of sleep latency in flies. These experiments uncouple the regulation of sleep latency from that of sleep duration and suggest that the kinetics of GABA(A) receptor signaling dictate sleep latency.

    PMID: 18223647 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    PMCID: 2655319

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    • Carbamazepine (Carbatrol®, Epitol®, Equetro®, ...)

      Carbamazepine is used alone or in combination with other medications to control certain types of seizures. It is also used to treat trigeminal neuralgia (a condition that causes facial nerve pain). Carbamazepine extended...