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Baclofen, a GABAB receptor agonist, impairs motor learning in healthy people and changes inhibitory dynamics in motor areas

Grigoras, I. F.; Geist, E.; Johnstone, A.; Clarke, W. T.; Emir, U.; Nettekoven, C.; Levenstein, J. M.; Capitao, L.; Stagg, C. J.

2025-04-01 neuroscience
10.1101/2025.03.27.645701 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Inhibition mediated by {gamma}-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is implicated in motor plasticity and learning, with [GABA] in the motor cortex decreasing during motor learning. However, the causal relationship between [GABA] and learning has yet to be determined. Here, we conducted a within-subject, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study to investigate the effect of increased GABAergic inhibition via GABAB-receptor agonist baclofen on motor learning and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) metrics. Increasing GABA-mediated inhibition with baclofen did not change response times, but significantly impaired motor sequence learning. In parallel, we demonstrated a blunting of the expected decrease in [GABA] during motor learning. These results highlight a causal role for GABAergic inhibition in motor learning and may have clinical implications: baclofen is commonly used to treat post brain-injury spasticity, but may impair motor learning during rehabilitation.

Published in Imaging Neuroscience (predicted rank #13) · training set

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