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GABA . |
| Gamma-aminobutyric acid) GABA (g-aminobutyric acid), one of the major inhibitory Amino Acid neurotransmitters of the central nervous system, is known to be an active a1- & a2-adrenergic antagonist, helping the body to relax the smooth muscle of arteries and veins. It acts via the GABA-A and GABA-B cell receptors to prevent neuronal depolarization and firing of an action potential occurring in muscles, stopping the muscle from contracting. An action potential is a rapid, transient, self-propagating electrical excitation of the membrane of electrically excitable cells, also known as a spike or nerve impulse (in neurons). Action potentials occur in nerve, muscle, and neuroendocrine cells and are generated and propagated through the actions of voltage-gated ion channels.An action potential is essentially a brief (approx. 1 ms long), regenerative change in the membrane potential which occurs in electrically excitable cells such as the smooth muscle in veins and arteries. Action potentials are essentially digital signals which encode information as a temporal sequence. With GABA, G-protein coupled receptor sites (the largest superfamily of cell-surface receptors) are competed for in smooth muscle, ensuring that smooth muscle of arteries and veins relaxes, and that action potentials do not fire. As the smooth muscle relaxes, arteries and veins begin to vasodilate, increasing their circumference, allowing more blood to flow which subsequently reduces blood pressure throughout the circulatory system.GABA, a quasi-amino acid, is thought to be one of the most powerful inhibitory neurotransmitters in the central nervous system operating as a chemical messenger to its neighbors. GABA is important in helping the body to naturally regulate nerve function and enhance the ability of vitamin B3 (niacin) to act. This is an amino acid which can be derived from yet another amino acid, glutamic acid. GABA, one of the so called three musketeers (GABA, Glutamine [GAM] and Glutamic acid [GA]), is believed to be capable of providing needed nutrition and energy for the brain.GABA has generally been found to be deficient in clinical and experimental seizure disorders and is the most widely distributed inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. GABA is helpful in bringing calmness to the body, promoting tranquility and peace in times of stress and anxiety. It is also a known precursor to another important neurotransmitter, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), which is a natural sleep inducing compound in the brain, encouraging the body to produce its own native tryptophan, which in turn is the natural precursor to the sleep neurotransmitter, serotonin. |