REVIEW ARTICLE published: 24 October 2013 doi: 10.3389/fncir.2013.00170 Pathophysiological power of improper tonic GABAA conductances in mature and immature models Kiyoshi Egawa1,2 and Atsuo Fukuda 3 * 1 Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA 2 Department of Pediatrics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan 3 Department of Neurophysiology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan Edited by: High-affinity extrasynaptic gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptors are tonically Alexey Semyanov, RIKEN Brain activated by low and consistent levels of ambient GABA, mediating chronic inhibition Science Institute, Japan against neuronal excitability (tonic inhibition) and the modulation of neural development. Reviewed by: Synaptic (phasic) inhibition is spatially and temporally precise compared with tonic inhibi- Vincenzo Crunelli, Cardiff University, UK tion, which provides blunt yet strong integral inhibitory force by shunting electrical signaling. Sergei Kirischuk, Universitätsmedizin Although effects of acute modification of tonic inhibition are known, its pathophysiological Mainz, Germany significance remains unclear because homeostatic regulation of neuronal excitability can *Correspondence: compensate for long-term deficit of extrasynaptic GABAA receptor activation. Neverthe- Atsuo Fukuda, Department of less, tonic inhibition is of great interest for its pathophysiological involvement in central Neurophysiology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 20-1 nervous system (CNS) diseases and thus as a therapeutic target. Together with the Handayama 1-chome, Higashi-ku, development of experimental models for various pathological states, recent evidence Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 431-3192, demonstrates such pathological involvements of tonic inhibition in neuronal dysfunction. Japan e-mail:
[email protected] This review focuses on the recent progress of tonic activation of GABAA conductance on the development and pathology of the CNS.