IMR Press / FBL / Volume 22 / Issue 7 / DOI: 10.2741/4539

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Review

The immunological function of GABAergic system

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1 College of Animal Science and Technology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China
2 Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, Hunan, China
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2017, 22(7), 1162–1172; https://doi.org/10.2741/4539
Published: 1 March 2017
Abstract

As a well-known inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric acid also has critical roles in immune system. Immune cells (e.g., lymphocytes, macrophages) express the components of GABAergic system, including GABA receptors, GABA transporters, and GABA metabolic enzymes. The functions of immune cells are highly impacted on GABA signaling. GABAergic components negatively regulate the immune responses, particularly the T cell-mediated immunity, via their effects on production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and activation of signal pathways, like mitogen-activated protein kinase and nuclear factor-kappaB pathways. These results may indicate that GABAergic components provide a new therapeutic approach for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel diseases.

Keywords
GABA
GABA receptors
GABA transporters
Inflammation
Autoimmune diseases
Review
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