Health - What does benzodiazepines do to the brain?

[oggy]

I know they work on the GABA receptors but how? They bind to the GABAa receptor but what is actually going on in the body, the benzodiazepines themselves aren't actually going into the brain are they?

[tyranny4u]

tt hates to post copy and paste answers, so follow this link:
h**p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepines

[oggy]

Yeah I read that but what are they really doing?

[Boca Bitch]

Originally Posted by oggy

I know they work on the GABA receptors but how? They bind to the GABAa receptor but what is actually going on in the body, the benzodiazepines themselves aren't actually going into the brain are they?

Benzodiazepines readily cross the brain-blood barrier, as do nearly all psychoactive substances. As you had mentioned the primary method of action of benzos is binding and agonizing GABAa receptors. When these receptors are bound, the nerve cells' chloride ion channels fire more frequently. This acts to potentiate the effects of the GABA neurotransmitters.

[oggy]

So the actual drug itself is entering the brain? Freaky!

[tyranny4u]

So the actual drug itself is entering the brain? Freaky!

It has to enter the brain to work the way it does. But it also enters your
fingernails, your skin, your lungs. It's in the blood (plasma).

[neborecovery]

ok, swim had a very knowledgeable professor type say that swim born with benzo receptor sites in the gaba area. the very bright professor type dude told swim that they are empty when swim not taking benzos. they are waiting. well swim takes benzo. they fill those sites. when the site is filled swim so calm. when not swim ok, but sites get lonely. swim could go on and on with stuff swim learned, but that made most sense to swim

[oggy]

Why would Darwin evolve humans to have benzodiazepine receptor sites?

[neborecovery]

That is what swiy asked over and over and over. However, wise professor in psychopharmacology class so many years ago also said we are born with opiate receptors and that we have enkelphins and endorphins. . I was probably a stoned pre-med student then tho. I don't believe everything I am told, but it made sense.

I am going to research it more when I become a bit more lucid.

[Boca Bitch]

Originally Posted by oggy

Why would Darwin evolve humans to have benzodiazepine receptor sites?

LOL!! You have to consider that medical understanding of the CNS is still quite primitive. For centuries we had absolutely no knowledge of how cannabinoids reacted within the body, even though they were used for medicinal purposes since Ancient Egypt. Even in more recent years (1800s-early 1990s), we were unable to grasp the concept that the body could have a receptors for a non-indigenous substance... so cannabinoids were believed to bind to opiate receptors for quite some time. Eventually, in the 1980s, we discovered that cannabinoids did in fact have a distinctive type of receptors along the CNS.... but it wasn't until 1992 that we discovered anandamide, the cannabinoid neurotransmitter.

So at this very moment, we see a distinctive binding spot that we only know benzodiazepines to be capable of triggering. But it would come as no surprise to me for an indigenous human 'benzo' to be discovered in the near future.

[Politicalchalk]

GABA is an important system in the brain, which is quite active on it's own. That is to say, benzodiazapines do produce a profound effect on the CNS, but the natural system itself does some pretty important regulations (ie; neurotransmitters).

[SWIM Bulgakov]

What benzodiazepines really do to me is make me feel like getting them out of my system.

[Politicalchalk]

Bulgakov, is that to say that Swiy has had unpleasant experiences with a particular substance? Or is it categorical? Does Swiy have an allergy?

Swim's cat used initially prescribed clonazepam and had intense CNS reactions. The cat was switched to lorazepam and tolerated it significantly better.

[neborecovery]

Swim like Bulgakov, worries about getting them out too! Especially if has taken a high dose and random drug screen is sooner than thought. Since Swim got in trouble, sometimes Swim has random on Friday and surprise it is another "random" on Monday. That really sucks. Maybe Swim just paranoid from all the years of smoke. Thankfully everytime that has happened Swim took a lower dose of a nitrobenzodiazepine like Klonopin. In fact Swim told me Swim worried now and needs to take a benzo.

[oggy]

Originally Posted by Boca Bitch

So at this very moment, we see a distinctive binding spot that we only know benzodiazepines to be capable of triggering. But it would come as no surprise to me for an indigenous human 'benzo' to be discovered in the near future.

GHB has at least two distinct binding sites in the central nervous system. GHB is an agonist at the newly-characterized GHB receptor, which is excitatory, and it is a weak agonist at the GABAB receptor, which is inhibitor

What's the difference with GABAa receptor and GABAb receptor? Both GHB and benzodiazepines bind to the central nervous system.

Do different benzodiazepines bind to different sites? Like temazepam, xanax (the sleeping ones) might bind to GABAa and CNS. Diazepam, lorazepam (anxiety ones) might bind to GABAb + CNS?