Role of gamma-aminobutyric acid in antipanic drug efficacy
- 1 March 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychiatric Association Publishing in American Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 146 (3), 353-356
- https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.146.3.353
Abstract
All effective pharmacologic agents used to treat panic disorder augment .gamma.-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transmission. Anxiolytics and antidepressants that lack GABA activity are not effective in panic disorder. To test the hypothesis that lack GABA activity is a component of antipanic drug efficacy, the authors treated nine medication-free panic disorder subjects with oral baclofen (30 mg/day for 4 weeks) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial. Baclofen, a selective GABA agonist, was significantly more effective than placebo in reducing the number of panic attacks and scores on the Hamilton anxiety scale, Zung scale, and Katz-R nervousness subscale. The authors discuss possible mechanisms of antipanic drug efficacy.This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
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