THE EFFECTS OF FLUMAZENIL IN NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

Flumazenil is a benzodiazepine receptor antagonist. It is currently us ed mainly in the anaesthetic and emergency rooms to reverse the effect of exogenous benzodiazepines. Its use in a variety of experimental an imal models and in human neuropsychiatric disorders continues to gener ate a wealth of information on the possible role of the benzodiazepine -GABA(A) receptor complex in their pathogenesis. In addition, labelled with carbon-11, flumazenil has proved to be one of the most successfu l positron emission tomography ligands stimulating research on the rol e of the benzodiazepine receptor in these disorders. This review focus es on the current state of play of flumazenil as a therapeutic or inve stigative agent in neuropsychiatry, citing also the relevant animal mo dels.