Barbiturates and benzodiazepines promote sleep by binding to and allosterically modulating GABAA selleck chemical receptors in the central nervous system. However, these drugs have been associated with several adverse reactions, including alteration of sleep architecture, nightmares, agitation, confusion, lethargy, CA4P cell line withdrawal, and a risk of dependence and abuse. The newest generation of sleep-aid drugs, the non-benzodiazepine hypnotics such as zolpidem, was developed to overcome some of these disadvantages [45]. In this study,

only zolpidem, the most ω1/ω2-selective agent, showed an OR of <1 (Table 2). Non-benzodiazepine drugs, including zolpidem, act through a similar neural mechanism as classical benzodiazepines. They bind to the same site on the GABAA receptors but differ significantly in their chemical structure and neuropharmacological profile

[46–48]. GABAA receptors have a pentameric form comprising 19 subunits (α1-6, β1-3, γ1-3, δ, ε, θ, π, and ρ1-3) [24, 49, 50]. The benzodiazepine binding site is now known to be associated with α and γ subunits. The pharmacologically defined benzodiazepine receptor subtype BZ1 (ω1) seems to correspond to the GABAA receptors containing α1 subunits, whereas the BZ2 (ω2) subtype is heterogeneous and corresponds to GABAA receptors with α2, α3, or α5 subunits [51, 52]. GABAA receptors containing selleckchem different α subunits show a heterogenous distribution in the brain, and it has been suggested that different receptor subtypes may have different functional roles [53]. In case of sedative and hypnotic activity of BZ (ω) agonists, determined by the ratio of selectivity in ω1/ω2 receptor subtypes, the difference in ω1/ω2 selectivity may influence the difference in falling probability [17].

Another possible reason for the variance in the risk of falls is the difference in the pharmacokinetics of hypnotics. Zolpidem very has the shortest elimination half-life and carries the lowest risk of falling. The maximum plasma concentration of zolpidem is reached 1.5 h after dosing [30]. A shorter time to reach peak concentration and a short elimination half-life may be preferable characteristics for hypnotic agents. A considerable number of accidental falls occur when a patient wakes because of a micturition urge during night. Thus, for patients with insomnia, it is important to select a hypnotic with a short half-life to avoid excessive suppression of psychomotor activity after sleeping. Finally, low-risk drug–drug interactions could explain the low frequency of falls in patients taking zolpidem. Although the formation of alcohol derivatives of zolpidem is rate-limiting and mediated principally by cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A4 (about 60 %), the rest is metabolized by CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6 [54, 55].