RESUMO
γ-aminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptor is one of the ligand-gated ion channel receptors expressing widely in the brain. As the major inhibitory neurotransmitter receptor, GABAA receptor is involved in the regulation of many physiological mechanisms. Imbalance expression of the receptor may lead to neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) syndrome, neurofibromatosis type 1 and fragile X syndrome. Clinically classic benzodiazepines acting on GABAA receptor can be used for the auxiliary treatment of various neuropsychiatric disorders, which supports the potential therapeutic value of GABAA receptor for these diseases. The paper describes the molecular structure and subtypes of GABAA receptor and further reviews the progress in the link between GABAA receptor and neuropsychiatric disorders in order to provide a new target for the drug therapy development of neuropsychiatric disorders.