Anxiolytic β-Carbolines

This study documents the latest discoveries in the molecular biology of the GABA A receptor, and reveals how integrated results from the fields of molecular biology, pharmacology and chemistry have paved the way for a novel therapy of anxiety states.

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Since the discovery some 15 years ago of benzodiazepine modulatory sites associated with GABA A receptors, great effort has gone into understanding their molecular pharmacology and into developing new anxiolytic drugs that interact selectively with them. Prominent in this research has been the discovery that B-carbolines, a different chemical class from benzodiazepines, also act at these receptors but that their effects are sometimes quite different from those of benzodiazepines. This book documents the latest discoveries in the molecular biology of the GABA A receptor and reveals how an integration of the results of research in molecular biology, synthetic chemistry, biochemical and behavioural pharmacology, and clinical pharmacology has paved the way for the development of B-carbolines from substances inducing anxiety and convulsions to a novel therapy of anxiety states, achieving a behavioural selectivity through selective actions at subtypes of receptors.