This report describes a project in which the biological role of gamma- hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is being investigated. GHB is an endogenous compound which was first found to be present in brain in concentrations ranging from 1 - 4 muM, but which was later found to be widely distribut- ed throughout the other organs of the body. Pharmacological doses of this hydroxyacid produce catatonic behavior in rats and dose-dependent reductions in the rate of glucose utilization in brain. These effects, and others reported in most of the previous studies, have been elicited by doses of GHB that would produce tissue concentrations of the compound many hundreds of times higher than that which normally exists in brain. Initial studies in this laboratory have shown that concentrations of GHB as low as 1 - 5 muM can increase calcium uptake in astrocytes cultured from 16 day rat fetuses, though the amount of uptake is small. Further work in this laboratory has shown that 5 - 10muM GHB potentiates the action of norepinephrine in stimulating glycogenolysis.
