title: Effects of cimetidine-like drugs on recombinant GABAA receptors.
abstract: Even though conventional systemic doses of cimetidine and other histamine H(2) antagonists display minimal brain penetration, central nervous system (CNS) effects (including seizures and analgesia) have been reported after administration of these drugs in animals and man. To test the hypothesis that cimetidine-like drugs produce these CNS effects via inhibition of GABA(A) receptors, the actions of these drugs were studied on seven different, precisely-defined rat recombinant GABA(A) receptors using whole-cell patch clamp recordings. The H(2) antagonists famotidine and tiotidine produced competitive and reversible inhibition of GABA-evoked currents in HEK293 cells transfected with various GABA(A) receptor subunits (IC(50) values were between 10-50 microM). In contrast, the H(2) antagonist ranitidine and the cimetidine congener improgan had very weak (if any) effects (IC(50) > 50 microM). Since the concentrations of cimetidine-like drugs required to inhibit GABA(A) receptors in vitro (greater than 50 microM) are considerably higher than those found during analgesia and/or seizures (1-2 microM), the present results suggest that cimetidine-like drugs do not appear to produce seizures or analgesia by directly inhibiting GABA(A) receptors.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience, Albany Medical College MC-136, 47 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY 12206, USA.
authors.forename: Keri E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Cannon
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Fleck
authors.forename: Lindsay B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Hough
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D002927:Cimetidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D015738:Famotidine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D006635:Histamine H2 Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D011899:Ranitidine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D006635:Histamine H2 Antagonists; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C099531:SKF 92374; D015738:Famotidine; D002927:Cimetidine; D011899:Ranitidine; C023990:tiotidine