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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Assessing Changes in Volatile General Anesthetic Sensitivity of Mice after Local or Systemic Pharmacological Intervention
Published on: October 16, 2013
l-Serine induces sedative and hypnotic effects acting at GABA(A) receptors in neonatal chicks
Kazutaka Shigemi1, Yousuke Tsuneyoshi, Kousuke Hamasu
1Laboratory of Advanced Animal and Marine Bioresources, Graduate School of Bioresources and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
Abstract:
Intracerebroventricular injection of l-serine has been shown to have sedative and hypnotic effects on neonatal chicks exposed to acute stressful conditions. However, the mechanism by which l-serine induces these effects is unclear. The present study was conducted to clarify the mechanism by l-serine. The involvement of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)(A) receptors on the effect of l-serine was investigated using the GABA(A) receptor antagonist picrotoxin. Co-administration of picrotoxin attenuated the sedative and hypnotic effect of l-serine. Further, we also investigated the involvement of glycine receptors since l-serine is suggested to act as the alpha-homomeric glycine receptor agonist. Glycine similarly induced sedative and hypnotic effects in chicks, but its effect was attenuated by the glycine receptor antagonist strychnine. Therefore, whether the effect of l-serine was mediated through the glycine receptor was investigated using l-serine and strychnine. The effect of l-serine was inhibited by picrotoxin, but not strychnine. It appears that l-serine induces sedative and hypnotic effects by enhancing inhibitory neurotransmission via GABA(A) receptors.
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