ArticlePsychopharmacology2016
Women with PTSD have a changed sensitivity to GABA-A receptor active substances.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors impacting prazosin efficacy for nightmares and insomnia in PTSD patients - a systematic review and meta-regression analysis.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- GR3027 reversal of neurosteroid-induced, GABA-A receptor-mediated inhibition of human brain function: an allopregnanolone challenge study.Psychopharmacology · 2018Trial
- The role of neurosteroids in posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder: A review of 10 years of clinical literature and treatment implications.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2024Review
- Altered GABAActa obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2023Article
- Involvement of the GABAergic system in PTSD and its therapeutic significance.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Review
- Modeling gene × environment interactions in PTSD using human neurons reveals diagnosis-specific glucocorticoid-induced gene expression.Nature neuroscience · 2022Article
- Response to sertraline is associated with reduction in anxiety-potentiated startle in premenstrual dysphoric disorder.Psychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Transcriptomic organization of the human brain in post-traumatic stress disorder.Nature neuroscience · 2021Article
- GABA-A receptor modulating steroids in acute and chronic stress; relevance for cognition and dementia?Neurobiology of stress · 2020Article
- GABA type a receptor trafficking and the architecture of synaptic inhibition.Developmental neurobiology · 2018Review
- Sex differences in anxiety disorders: Interactions between fear, stress, and gonadal hormones.Hormones and behavior · 2015Review
- GABAA Receptor-Modulating Steroids in Relation to Women's Behavioral Health.Current psychiatry reports · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleThe use of benzodiazepines in treating anxiety symptoms in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been debated. Studies on other anxiety disorders have indicated changed sensitivity to GABA-A receptor active substances.
objectiveIn the present study, we investigated the GABA receptor sensitivity in PTSD patients.
methodsInjections of allopreganolone, diazepam, and flumazenil were carried out, each on separate occasions, in 10 drug naïve patients with PTSD compared to 10 healthy controls. Effects were measured in saccadic eye velocity (SEV) and in subjective ratings of sedation.
resultsThe PTSD patients were less sensitive to allopregnanolone compared with healthy controls. This was seen as a significant difference in SEV between the groups (p = 0.047). Further, the patients were less sensitive to diazepam, with a significant less increase in sedation compared to controls (p = 0.027). After flumazenil injection, both patients and controls had a significant agonistic effect on SEV, leading to decreased SEV after injection. The patients also responded with an increase in sedation after flumazenil injection, while this was not seen in the controls.
conclusionsPatients with PTSD have a changed sensitivity to GABA-A receptor active substances. As a consequence of this, benzodiazepines and other GABA-A receptor active compounds such as sleeping pills will be less useful for this group of patients.
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