Benzodiazepines (midazolam; flunitrazepam) and pentobarbital increase the response to exogenous gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in adult hippocampal cells. We report in this paper that in contrast pentobarbital but not benzodiazepine potentiate the effects of exogenous (GABA) in neurons recorded from slices of less than two weeks old. This finding suggests that the functional association of benzodiazepine and GABAA receptors is changed during early postnatal life.