Introduction

We are interested in the molecular mechanisms regulating GABA receptors. GABA receptors play a key role in controlling neuronal activity. Consequently, modulating their activity by physiological or pathophysiological stimuli will have an important impact on neuronal function.

The role of GABA receptors and their interaction with down-stream signaling pathways in important brain functions such as memory, anxiety and pain is currently not well understood. Since most cellular functions are performed not by individual proteins but by large protein assemblies we expect GABA receptors to be embedded in diverse multi-protein complexes where they might affect various down-stream signaling pathways. To gain insight into these complex mechanisms our research is mainly focused on the identification and analysis of proteins as well as signal transduction pathways associated with or affected by GABA receptors. In addition, we are interested in the mechanisms of GABA receptor trafficking as a means to regulate the number of cell surface receptors and thereby signalling strength.

Fig. 3: Structure of GABA(B) receptors