GABAB receptors in absence epilepsy

Abstract

The γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)B receptor (GABA BR) is a 7-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptor for GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in brain. The pathophysiology of typical absence seizures with normal cognitive development and atypical absence seizures associated with severe impairment in cognition (Models of Seizures and Epilepsy, Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, 2006) involves GABA BR-mediated neurotransmission and is circuitry dependent. For an expanded treatment of this topic see Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies, Fourth Edition (Noebels JL, Avoli M, Rogawski MA, Olsen RW, Delgado-Escueta AC, eds) published by Oxford University Press (available on the National Library of Medicine Bookshelf [NCBI] at). © 2010 International League Against Epilepsy.