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Is Receptor Heterogeneity Relevant to the Anxiolytic Actions of Benzodiazepine Receptor Ligands?

  • Chapter
New Concepts in Anxiety

Abstract

The presence of saturable, stereoselective recognition sites for benzodiazepines (BDZ) in the central nervous system (Squires and Braestrup, 1977; Mohler and Okada, 1977) provided the stimulus to synthesize and evaluate potential anxiolytics devoid of the myorelaxant and hypnotic properties associated with ‘classical’ 1,4-BDZ. During the past decade, more than half a dozen chemically distinct (that is, unrelated to 1,4-BDZ) structures have been reported to bind with high affinities to these BDZ receptors (BDZR), with at least as many compounds reported to possess anticonflict (and/or anxiolytic) actions devoid of significant hypnotic and/or myorelaxant potential (reviewed in Skolnick and Paul, 1988). Even so, the mechanism(s) by which a BDZR ligand can effect a selective anxiolytic action has not been well defined either on a molecular or neuroanatomical level. This chapter will critically review the relationship of receptor heterogeneity to the putative ‘anxioselective’ actions of BDZR ligands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neuroscience NIDDK, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    P. Skolnick

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  1. P. Skolnick
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pierre Fabre Médicament, Castres, France

    M. Briley

  2. Psychopharmacology Research Unit, UMDS, Guy’s Hospital, London, SE1 9RT, UK

    S. E. File

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© 1991 Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Skolnick, P. (1991). Is Receptor Heterogeneity Relevant to the Anxiolytic Actions of Benzodiazepine Receptor Ligands?. In: Briley, M., File, S.E. (eds) New Concepts in Anxiety. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11847-2_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11847-2_14

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