Binding of [3H]-muscimol, a potent gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor agonist, to membranes of the bovine retina.

1 The binding of 3H]-muscimol, a potent gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor agonist, to crude membrane preparations of bovine retina was studied, using a filtration method to isolate membrane-bound ligand. 2 Specific binding was found to be saturable and occurred at two binding sites with affinity constants of 4.3 nM and 38.2 nM. 3 Binding was sodium-independent, enhanced by both freezing and Triton X-100 treatment but abolished with sodium laurylsulphate. 4 The binding sites demonstrated a high degree of pharmacological specificity, GABA being a potent displacer of 3H]-muscimol. 5 A higher degree of 3H]-muscimol binding was associated with subcellular fractions enriched with photoreceptor synaptosomes rather than with fractions enriched with conventional synaptosomes.