Nitric Oxide Increases GABA Availability In The Brain

[ddjd]

Not peaty but nonetheless interesting to know about this relationship between Nitric Oxide and GABA


Studies on Nitric Oxide Increasing GABA Availability in the Brain

• Evidence that nitric oxide production increases gamma-amino butyric acid permeability of blood-brain barrier.
  Evidence that nitric oxide production increases gamma-amino butyric acid permeability of blood-brain barrier. - PubMed - NCBI

• Biphasic modulation of GABA release by nitric oxide in the hippocampus of freely moving rats in vivo.
  Biphasic modulation of GABA release by nitric oxide in the hippocampus of freely moving rats in vivo. - PubMed - NCBI

• Neurotransmitters as food supplements: the effects of GABA on brain and behavior.
  In this study, GABA supplementation by itself increased brain GABA 33%, but when combined with L-arginine, a stimulator of nitric oxide, brain GABA rose 383.3%. (10X)
• Neurotransmitters as food supplements: the effects of GABA on brain and behavior. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[jb116]

The duality of nature is interesting. I think if we took this as "NO being apparently beneficial in the short term" just as in it being used for ED for example, but kept in mind the detriment down the road, it would probably start to look familiar to us. Not to say the normal, body's regulation of NO acutely is bad or anything.

 

[Hugh Johnson]

It might have to do with blood flow, in which case carbon dioxide might do the same thing.

 

[Elephanto]

On to other hand, it releases glutamate (excicotoxic) :

Nitric Oxide causes glutamate release from brain synaptosomes

Mice with impaired Nitric Oxide synthesis haved reduced glutamate levels :

Additionally, nNOS−/− mice exhibit reduced neurodegeneration after cerebral ischemia, which may be because of reduced glutamate excitotoxicity (15, 16).

Also, several NMDA (neurotoxic, triggered by stress) receptor antagonists inhibit Nitric Oxide : Magnesium, Niacinamide, Zinc, Ketamine.

Nitric Oxide inhibition produces similar effects to NMDA antagonism :
Inhibition of the NMDA receptor/Nitric Oxide pathway in the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray causes anxiolytic-like effects in rats submitted to the Vogel conflict test

nNOS inhibition promotes effects similar to those observed after NMDA antagonism [13,14].

Stress Triggers But Magnesium Prevents Neurological Diseases

Seems like this GABA-enhancing property of Nitric Oxide is a counter-balancing mechanism to prevent too much neurotoxicity, but probably not an efficient way to achieve the stress reduction/mental clarity that one would want from GABA given the other mechanisms at play.