The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7279 p806
13 December 2003

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Nature Medicine abstract (more)

New anxiolytics from quinolones?

Patients taking fluoroquinolone antibiotics exhibit a low incidence of convulsions and anxiety, probably via GABA antagonism at the brain GABA receptor complex.

Researchers from Durham and California have harnessed this effect to develop new compounds by modifying the norfloxacin molecule. They say that studies in rats indicate that one of their new agents may represent a new class of ligands with anxiolytic, but not sedative, properties (Nature Medicine).