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GABA

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 79 Accesses

Synonyms

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (y-Aminobutyric acid); Inhibitory neurotransmitter

Definition

Second only to glutamate as the major neurotransmitter (Litwack 2008), gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is best known as the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (Bowery and Smart 2006).

Introduction

In the mammalian neocortex, local circuit neurons typically contain GABA, while projection neurons comprise glutamate, the chief excitatory neurotransmitter (Letinic et al. 2002). With at least 40% of inhibitory synaptic processes employing GABA, this widely distributed neurotransmitter plays a critical role in reducing cortical excitability throughout the central nervous system (Petroff 2002). Furthermore, GABA concentration in the human central nervous system is thought to underlie pathophysiologies in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, while recent evidence posits the importance of GABA-mediated inhibitory processes in explaining interindividual...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Maedbh King

Authors
  1. Maedbh King
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Correspondence to Maedbh King .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Julie Schermer

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King, M. (2017). GABA. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_752-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_752-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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