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The GABAergic nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans

Nature volume 364, pages 337–341 (1993)Cite this article

Abstract

γ-AMINOBUTYRIC acid (GABA) is the most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter in vertebrates and invertebrates1. GABA receptors are the target of anxiolytic, antiepileptic and antispasmodic drugs2, as well as of commonly used insecticides3. How does a specific neurotransmitter such as GABA control animal behaviour? To answer this question, we identified all neurons that react with antisera raised against the neurotransmitter GABA in the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We determined the in vivo functions of 25 of the 26 GABAergic neurons by killing these cells with a laser microbeam in living animals and by characterizing a mutant defective in GABA expression. On the basis of the ultrastructurally defined connectivity of the C. elegans nervous system, we deduced how these GABAergic neurons act to control the body and enteric muscles necessary for different behaviours. Our findings provide evidence that GABA functions as an excitatory as well as an inhibitory neurotransmitter.

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Author notes

  1. Steven L. Mclntire

    Present address: Department of Neurology, University of California, Box 0114, M-794, San Francisco, CA 94143-0114, USA

  2. Joshua Kaplan

    Present address: Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, 02114, USA

  3. Steven L. Mclntire: Program of Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 56-629, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

    Steven L. Mclntire, Erik Jorgensen, Joshua Kaplan & H. Robert Horvitz

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  1. Steven L. Mclntire
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  3. Joshua Kaplan
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  4. H. Robert Horvitz
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Mclntire, S., Jorgensen, E., Kaplan, J. et al. The GABAergic nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans. Nature 364, 337–341 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/364337a0

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