Back

Bicarbonate Efflux induces GABAergic Excitation and Seizures through pH Regulation

Liu, Z.; Li, Y.

2026-02-02 neuroscience
10.64898/2026.01.29.702224 bioRxiv
Show abstract

GABAergic signaling can paradoxically excite neurons and initiate seizures, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We developed a computational model integrating pH regulation into neural dynamics to investigate GABAergic excitation. Our results show that GABA-induced bicarbonate efflux causes intracellular acidification and charge accumulation, which enhances neuronal excitability and can trigger seizure-like discharges through bifurcations in the neurodynamic system. Furthermore, we demonstrate that active pH-regulating transporters effectively counteract GABA-induced acidification to maintain neural stability. This work elucidates a novel pH-regulating mechanism for excitatory GABA responses, explaining how impaired pH regulation or excessive GABA stimulation may predispose neurons to seizures and suggesting new therapeutic targets for epilepsy.

Matching journals

The top 3 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.