Abstract
The benzodiazepins were introducted in the early sixties. Their various pharmacological properties and their high toxic/therapeutic ratio explain the wide development of their clinical use (and abuse?). Their mechanism of action on the central nervous system (CNS) was only elucidated in 1977 when high affinity binding sites, closely related to GABA-ergic synapses, were discovered in the mammalian cerebral cortex and related to the pharmacologic action of benzodiazepines [1, 2]. A specific antagonist of benzodiazepine-receptors (Ro 15-1788 — flumazenil), able to inhibit all the effects of classical benzodiazepines without inducing any own action, was discovered by Hunkeleer et al. in 1981 [3].
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© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Lheureux, P., Askenasi, R. (1988). Clinical Use of Benzodiazepine Antagonists. In: Vincent, J.L. (eds) Update 1988. Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, vol 5. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83392-2_65
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83392-2_65
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