The Action Of Etomidate On GABA_A Receptors In The Sacral Dorsal Commissural Neurons

The sacral dorsal commissural nucleus (SDCN) is a cell column located in the dorsal gray matter of central canal in the lower lumbar and sacral spinal cord. It receives primary afferent inputs from both pelvic and pudendal nerves, which provide the major innervation of pelvic organ. Accordingly, the SDCN serves as a relay of sensory information from the pelvic viscera. An important role of the nucleus is in nociception, which make SDCN an ideal place to study the transmission and modulation of the pelvic visceral nociceptive signals.Etomidate (ET), a carboxylated imidazole,, has gained widespread use as an intravenous general anesthetic due to its desirable hemodynamic characteristics, Recent evidence suggests that the inhibitory neurotransmitter y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor may be one of the important molecular target(s) of general anesthetics. Up to date, little attention has been directed towards the SDCN. Therefore, first, the effect of ET on GABAA receptor function in neurons acutely dissociated from the SDCN was investigated using the nystatin-perforated patch-recording configuration under...