Abstract
FOR some years considerable attention has been focused on the inhibitory action of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). One of the first systems used to demonstrate this property involved inhibition of the spontaneous discharge of the slowly adapting stretch receptor neurone of the crayfish1,2. This bio-assay procedure has been used to investigate the inhibitory characteristics of many other compounds2–4, but none reported to date has proved more active than GABA. A number of aliphatic amino- and guanidino-acids have, however, shown activity approaching that of GABA, and pre-requisites for activity appear to be the presence in the molecule of an acidic and a suitably separated basic function. Such general characteristics are to be found among the catecholamines. The inhibitory characteristics of these substances were therefore investigated.
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McGEER, E., McGEER, P. & McLENNAN, H. Inhibitory Properties of the Catecholamines. Nature 192, 563 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/192563a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/192563a0
