kaleidoscopik

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greaterthan, originally uploaded by kaleidoscopikr.

GABA-A receptors are found on neurons all over your brain. When other neurons send them some GABA they let chloride ions flow across the cell membrane. This typically has the effect of increasing negative ions inside the cell and quieting things down (in the general case, more positive = more active). GABA-A antagonists injected into most any part of the brain would have remove GABA-mediated inhibition to a large extent. Cells would start firing a lot. These chemicals give us a tool to crank up neural activity for a period, to see what happens downstream. They were initially discovered as convulsants (you can imagine how convulsions could arise from reduced neural inhibition). Whoa, I almost thought that second weakest one was called tuRbocurarine. The TigerLillies have a song called QRV that always makes me think of curare on their Gorey tribute album.