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Lack of effect of carbamazepine on gamma-aminobutyric acid in cerebrospinal fluid

From the Biological Psychiatry Branch (Drs. Post and Bunney), National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, the Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry (Dr. Ballenger), University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, VA, and the Department of Pharmacology (Dr. Hare), Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.

Carbamazepine was administered to nine patients with manic-depressive illness at doses ranging from 600 to 1600 mg per day, achieving blood levels between 6 and 11 µg per milliliter. Compared to medication-free values, GABA levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were not significantly altered by an average of 30 days' treatment with carbamazepine. These preliminary data do not support a major effect of carbamazepine on brain GABA as reflected in CSF as a mechanism for its anticonvulsant or psychotropic effects.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Post, National Institute of Mental Health, Bldg. 10, Room 38239, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20205.

Accepted for publication November 9, 1979.

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