The effects of cellular mediators that contribute to ischemia-induced neuronal degeneration on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAA)-receptor function were studied. In vitro, phospholipase A2 (PLA2) inhibited muscimol-induced 36Cl- uptake in cerebral cortical synaptoneurosomes. The major hydrolysis product of PLA2 activity, arachidonic acid, also inhibited GABA-mediated 36Cl- uptake. The unsaturated nature of arachidonic acid makes it (and its metabolites) highly susceptible to peroxidation by oxygen radicals. Incubation of synaptoneurosomes with the superoxide radical-generating system, xanthine and xanthine oxidase, decreased muscimol-induced 36Cl- uptake, suggesting that the peroxidation of arachidonic acid and/or its metabolites interferes with GABAA-receptor function. Another factor involved in ischemia-induced neuronal degeneration is an increase in intracellular Ca2+. Calcium also inhibited GABA-mediated 36Cl- flux, consistent with its ability to activate PLA2. In contrast, Mg2+, which blocks Ca2+ channels, enhanced muscimol-induced 36Cl- uptake, consistent with its neuroprotective effects. Each of these cellular processes is activated during cerebral ischemia and can lead to neuronal degeneration. We used a model of transient forebrain ischemia in gerbils to determine if GABAA-receptor regulation is altered in vivo at a time when CA1 hippocampal cells have degenerated. Four days after a 5 minute bilateral carotid artery occlusion, receptor autoradiography was performed to measure the binding of [35S]t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate (TBPS) to the GABA-gated chloride channel. Significant decreases in TBPS binding were observed only in the dendritic layers (stratum oriens and lacunosem moleculare) of the CA1 hippocampus. The results suggest that ischemia-induced cellular processes that contribute to cell death can decrease GABA-gated chloride channels on dendrites of CA1 pyramidal cells, and that GABAA receptors may also reside on neurons afferent to or intrinsic to the dendritic layers of CA1 hippocampus.