Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38151012›Full record

ArticleNeuropsychobiology2024

GABAA Receptor Availability in Relation to Cortical Excitability in Depressed and Healthy: A Positron Emission Tomography and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study.

Linda Steinholtz, Elin Thörnblom, Robert Bodén, Anders Wall, Hans W Axelson, Mark Lubberink, David Fällmar, Jonas Persson

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neuropsychobiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 42% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. GABAMedComm · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Linda SteinholtzDepartment of Medical Sciences, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Elin ThörnblomDepartment of Medical Sciences, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Robert BodénDepartment of Medical Sciences, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Anders WallPET-Centre, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
Hans W AxelsonDepartment of Medical Sciences, Clinical neurophysiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Mark LubberinkDepartment of Surgical Sciences, Nuclear medicine and PET, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
David FällmarDepartment of Surgical Sciences, Neuroradiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Jonas PerssonDepartment of Medical Sciences, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Uppsala University · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionGamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) deficiency is suggested in depressive disorders, along with alterations in cortical excitability. However, whether these excitability changes are related to GABAA receptor availability is largely unknown. Our aim was to assess the correlation between these measures in depressed patients and healthy controls.

methodsTwenty-eight patients with a major depressive episode, measured before and after participating in a clinical trial with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and 15 controls underwent [11C]flumazenil positron emission tomography to assess GABAA receptor availability and paired pulse TMS (ppTMS) to evaluate cortical excitability. Both whole-brain voxel-wise GABAA receptor availability and mean values from left hand motor cortex and left paracentral lobule were correlated to the ppTMS outcomes: short-interval intracortical inhibition reflecting GABAA receptor activity, long-interval intracortical inhibition representing GABAB receptor activity, intracortical facilitation reflecting glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor activity, as well as the resting motor threshold (rMT), considered a global measure of corticospinal excitability.

resultsNo significant differences in baseline GABAA receptor availability or cortical excitability were found between patients and controls. Additionally, no correlations were observed between baseline measurements of GABAA receptor availability and TMS outcomes. Changes in GABAA receptor availability in the hand motor cortex, between pre- and post-assessments, were inversely related to pre-post changes in hand rMT.

conclusionWe found that a change in GABAA receptor availability was inversely related to a change in rMT, suggesting a link between GABA deficiency and increased rMT previously observed in depressive episodes. The results highlight the complex mechanisms governing cortical excitability measures and offer new insight into their properties during the depressive state.

Indexed as

Cortical ExcitabilityMajor Depressive DisorderEvoked Potentials, Motorgamma-Aminobutyric AcidHumansNeural InhibitionPositron-Emission TomographyReceptors, GABA-ATranscranial Magnetic Stimulationgamma-Aminobutyric AcidReceptors, GABA-AIntracortical facilitationLong-interval intracortical inhibitionN-methyl-D-asparatePaired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulationShort-interval intracortical inhibition

Identifiers

PMID38151012
PMCPMC10871686
OpenAlexW4390263264

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.