Effects on the expression of GABAA receptor subunits by jujuboside A treatment in rat hippocampal neurons.

Abstract Aim of study To determine the effect of jujuboside A (JuA) in modulating the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA A ) receptor subunits gene expression of hippocampal neurons at different terms in vitro . Materials and methods Hippocampal neurons of rat were cultured in vitro , treated with JuA or diazepam (DZP). Then GABA A receptor mRNAs were evaluated by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Results JuA at the low dose of 41 μM (about 0.05 g/l) induced significant increase of GABA A receptor α1, α5, β2 subunit mRNAs in both 24 and 72 h treatments. JuA at the high dose of 82 μM (about 0.1 g/l) significantly increased GABA A receptor α1, α5 subunit mRNA levels and decreased β2 subunit mRNA level at 24 h treatment, and decreased GABA A receptor subunit α1, β2 mRNAs expression at 72 h treatment. DZP of 10 μM significantly increased expression of GABA A receptor subunit α1, α5 and decreased expression of β2 at 24 h treatment, and decreased α1, α5, β2 subunits gene expression at 72 h treatment. Conclusion Differences in alterations in GABA A receptor subunit mRNAs expression following JuA and DZP treatments could help to explain the differences in the pharmacological action of the two drugs.