Pharmacological Effect of GABA Analogues on GABA-ϱ2 Receptors and Their Subtype Selectivity

GABAϱ receptors are distinctive GABAergic receptors from other ionotropic GABAA and metabotropic GABAB receptors in their pharmacological, biochemical, and electrophysiological properties. Although GABA-ϱ1 receptors are the most studied in this subfamily, GABA-ϱ2 receptors are widely distributed in the brain and are considered a potential target for treating neurological disorders such as stroke. The structure of GABA-ϱ2 receptors and their pharmacological features are poorly studied. We generated the first homology model of GABA-ϱ2 channel, which predicts similar major interactions of GABA with the binding-site residues in GABA-ϱ1 and GABA-ϱ2 channels. We also investigated the pharmacological properties of several GABA analogues on the activity of GABA-ϱ2 receptors. In comparison to their pharmacological effect on GABA-ϱ1 receptors, the activation effect of these ligands and their potentiation/inhibition impact on GABA response have interestingly shown inter-selectivity between the two GABA-ϱ receptors. Our results suggest that several GABA analogues can be used as research tools to study the distinctive physiology of GABA-ϱ1 and GABA-ϱ2 receptors. Furthermore, their partial agonist effect may hold promise for the future discovery of selective modulatory agents on GABAA receptors.