Overview

• Brain imaging of over 380 PTSD patients showed unusually high GABA concentrations and reduced blood flow in the medial prefrontal cortex, with GABA levels falling in clinically improved individuals.
• Postmortem and mouse studies traced this excess GABA to reactive astrocytes using monoamine oxidase B, overturning the view of glial cells as passive support.
• Administration of the selective MAOB inhibitor KDS2010 in mice lowered astrocytic GABA, restored prefrontal activity and enabled fear-memory extinction.
• KDS2010 has completed Phase 1 safety trials in humans and is now undergoing Phase 2 clinical testing for PTSD treatment.
• The reverse translational framework that guided this work is being applied to explore astrocyte-targeted therapies for disorders such as panic disorder, depression and schizophrenia.