What is Gamma-aminobutyric Acid (GABA)?
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter, a chemical messenger in your brain. It slows down your brain by blocking specific signals in your central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord).
GABA is known for producing a calming effect. It’s thought to play a major role in controlling nerve cell hyperactivity associated with anxiety, stress, and fear.
Scientists also call GABA a non-protein amino acid neurotransmitter.
How Does GABA Reduce Neuronal Excitability by Inhibiting Nerve Transmission?
Humans have a highly selective membrane that keeps our blood and cerebrospinal fluid separate: the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Some molecules, like water, pass through it easily, other things, like bacteria don’t. This membrane also contains special channels to diffuse important molecules one way or the other, like glucose.
It’s an important border, as drugs that cannot cross into the brain, or do so poorly, have much less of an effect than ones that do. For example, morphine can’t cross the BBB very well, but its close relative heroin can! Upon entry to the brain, heroin is converted into morphine, which is why heroin is so much more potent than morphine.
A 1958 study was the first to look at GABA’s relationship with the blood-brain barrier, and it found a lack of one: GABA could not cross the barrier. Later studies in ‘58, ‘71, and ‘88 confirmed the barrier’s impermeability to GABA. The evidence seems all but clear until you throw a few more studies into the mix. Studies done in ‘80, ‘81, ‘82, and ‘02 found that GABA did cross the blood-brain barrier, just in minuscule amounts.
Why the disagreement? Well, a few things. Some studies used a molecule just like GABA in lieu of GABA, assuming the 1 extra OH group featured on 3-hydroxybutyric acid wouldn’t make a difference, but it may have. Since many studies don’t report the type of GABA used, it’s hard to compare results. Some studies administered their GABA by injecting it straight into body cavities, others by injecting it into veins.
Most importantly, the BBB permeability of GABA has never been studied in humans!
What we do know is that human BBB contains transporters for GABA, implying that GABA can enter/exit the brain through these channels. In mice, it was found that GABA was removed from the brain 17 times faster than it entered.
This could explain the conflicting study results. It may not be that GABA cannot enter the brain, but just that it’s removed from it very rapidly. Even if it cannot cross the BBB however, GABA could still be affecting your brain.
The enteric nervous system (ENS) is the network of neurons that control your gastrointestinal system. The ENS contains many GABA receptors, and GABA itself, and is connected to the brain through the vagal nerve. It’s been proposed that ingested GABA can affect the body even without crossing the BBB through its interactions with the ENS.
We don’t know at this point how GABA is affecting the brain, but we have good evidence that it is. Several studies have shown reductions in markers of stress in patients given supplemental GABA.
On their own the success stories from the consumers who buy GABA supplements are meaningless but taken along with the research findings, they may just show that there is something to these supplements.
More research is needed to know for sure if GABA supplements are helpful or not.
Neurotransmitters are obtained from amino acids, vitamins, and minerals consumed in the diet. When deficient, neurotransmitter production can become negatively impacted. Caffeine and other stimulants can greatly reduce the effectiveness of neurotransmitters. Stressful work and a lifestyle of overstimulation can impact your neurotransmitter levels, depleting reserves.
The largest source of neurotransmitter production is in the gut. An instance of gut dysbiosis or dysregulation can also lead to low levels of neurotransmitters, while other factors – including chemical sensitivities, allergies, blood sugar dysregulation, hormonal changes, and dehydration can also impact neurotransmitter levels. For this reason alone, we need to understand these neurotransmitters because a deficit with any of them is associated with changes in mood and behavior.
Learn More About Becoming a Certified Brain Fitness Coach
Curious to learn more about brain fitness and health? Check out these resources:
- Basics of Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain: An Introduction for Coaches and Trainers Who Help Clients Enhance Performance
- Fundamentals of Nutrition for Optimal Brain Health and Function
- Understand the Fundamentals of Brain Health and Fitness and How to Coach Your Clients on This Topic
You can now dramatically expand your knowledge of brain optimization through proper training, sleep, nutrition, neuro-conditioning, and flow state. Start your career as a Certified Brain Fitness Coach.
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