GABA and muscimol as reversible inactivation tools in learning and memory

Reversible inactivation of brain areas is a useful method for inferring brain-behavior relationships. Infusion of GABA or of the GABA receptor agonist muscimol is considered one interesting reversible inactivation method because it may not affect fibers of passage and may therefore be compared to axon-sparing types of lesions. This article reviews the data obtained with this method in learning and memory experiments. A critical analysis of data, collected in collaboration with Simon Brailowsky, with chronic GABA infusion is presented, together with an illustration of data obtained with muscimol-induced inactivation.