Actions of benzodiazepines and the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil may involve adenosine.
It has recently been reported that the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil (formerly Ro15-1788) has depressant actions of its own on hippocampal potentials. It is noted here that similar results were obtained over ten years earlier, in association with work showing that benzodiazepine agonists and antagonists could inhibit the uptake of adenosine. Such an action would lead to the extracellular accumulation of adenosine which, because of its ability to suppress transmitter release, could explain the recent results.
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D000241:Adenosine / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000931:Antidotes / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005442:Flumazenil / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D000931:Antidotes; D005442:Flumazenil; D000241:Adenosine