Abstract
The benzodiazepine class of drugs was discovered in the late 1950s by Sternbach and Randall at the Roche Laboratories in Basle, Switzerland. Until the mid-1980s all members of this pharmacological class were of a very similar nature chemically all being [1,4] benzodiazepine molecules (except clordiazepoxide, Fig. 1). Surprisingly, all new compounds discovered for almost three decades with the characteristic diazepam-like anxiolytic, hypnotic, and anticonvulsant profile were chemically classified as benzodiazepines. They were all remarkably similar in their clinical and pharmacological actions; they differed mainly with respect to potency, duration of action, existence of active metabolites, etc. The discovery of new chemical classes of compounds acting on benzodiazepine receptors, but not being [1,4] benzodiazepines, has broadened the pharmacodynamic profile of this class of drugs and has opened a new avenue for designing drugs with advantageous properties.KeywordsGaba ReceptorEndogenous LigandAcid Ethyl EsterButyl EsterGABAergic FunctionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Published Version
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