Centrally administered GABA and GABA-selective agonist and antagonist in rats: histoenzymological cytophotometric study.

In the present study, the effect of intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of GABA, its agonist--muscimol, and antagonist--picrotoxin, has been studied on histoenzymological alterations of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), monoamine oxidase (MAO), and succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) by cytophotometric technique. This study was conducted on medial preoptic area (mPOA), nucleus paraventricularis hypothalami (PVH), area lateralis hypothalami (LHA), nucleus dorsomedialis hypothalami (DMH), and nucleus ventromedialis hypothalami (VMH). Results showed that GABA and muscimol inhibited AChE, BuChE, MAO, and SDH in all the areas while picrotoxin stimulated these enzymes. These changes in enzyme activity by GABA, muscimol, and picrotoxin and their possible mode of action are discussed.