Benzodiazepines: An Old Class of New Antihypertensive Drugs?

The role of the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling in blood pressure regulation is complex and only partially characterized. Old studies on anesthetized animals reported that GABA injection in the central nervous system (CNS) decreased blood pressure, heart rate, and renal sympathetic nerve activity,¹ but did not attenuate blood pressure elevation induced by a salt load.² Other studies demonstrated that the GABAergic activity of different areas of the CNS could affect the neural regulation of blood pressure through sympathoinhibitory signals and that stimulation of GABA-type A receptors in the posterior hypothalamus of spontaneously hypertensive rats decreased blood pressure more than in control animals (Wistar-Kyoto rats).³ The GABA_A-receptors are chloride ion channels whose major function is inhibition of neurotransmission in specific areas of the CNS of vertebrates.

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