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Increased Mrna Expression For The Α1 Subunit Of The GabaA Receptor Following Nitrous Oxide Exposure In Mice, Lisa M. Johanek, William E. Cullinan, Linda K. Vaughn

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The mechanisms by which nitrous oxide (N₂O) produces physical dependence and withdrawal seizures are not well understood, but both N₂O and ethanol exert some of their effects via the GABA_A receptor and several lines of evidence indicate that withdrawal from N₂O and ethanol may be produced through similar mechanisms. Expression levels of mRNA transcripts encoding several GABA_A receptor subunits change with chronic ethanol exposure and, therefore, we hypothesized that N₂O exposure would produce changes in mRNA expression for the α₁ subunit. Male, Swiss–Webster mice, 10–12 weeks of age, were …