# Plasticity of GABAA Receptors during Pregnancy and Postpartum Period: From Gene to Function

## TL;DR

This review explores how GABAA receptors change during pregnancy and postpartum, linking these changes to potential neurological and psychiatric disorders in women.

## Contribution

The paper highlights new insights into GABAA receptor plasticity and its connection to neuroactive steroids during pregnancy and postpartum.

## Key findings

- Neuroactive steroids significantly influence GABAA receptor function and plasticity during pregnancy.
- Changes in GABAA receptor subunits in the hippocampus are linked to fluctuations in neuroactive steroids.
- Altered receptor function may contribute to neurological and psychiatric disorders in women during crucial reproductive periods.

## Abstract

Pregnancy needs complex pathways that together play a role in proper growth and protection of the fetus preventing its premature loss. Changes during pregnancy and postpartum period include the manifold machinery of neuroactive steroids that plays a crucial role in neuronal excitability by local modulation of specific inhibitory receptors: the GABAA receptors. Marked fluctuations in both blood and brain concentration of neuroactive steroids strongly contribute to GABAA receptor function and plasticity. In this review, we listed several interesting results regarding the regulation and plasticity of GABAA receptor function during pregnancy and postpartum period in rats. The increase in brain levels of neuroactive steroids during pregnancy and their sudden decrease immediately before delivery are causally related to changes in the expression/function of specific GABAA receptor subunits in the hippocampus. These data suggest that alterations in GABAA receptor expression and function may be related to neurological and psychiatric disorders associated with crucial periods in women. These findings could help to provide potential new treatments for these women's disabling syndromes.