Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors at the single‐channel level

What is it about?

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) belongs to the superfamily of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels. It is present in a great variety of neuronal and non-neuronal cells and involved in many physiological and pathological processes. The nAChR binds nerve-released ACh and converts this chemical signal into a fast, electrical response by rapidly opening a channel that allows ions to flow across the cell. The patch-clamp technique, which allows registration of currents from a single receptor molecule with sub-millisecond resolution, has revealed how the receptor activates in response to the neurotransmitter, how subtle structural and mechanistic differences among nAChR subtypes are translated into significant physiological differences, and how nAChRs can be exploited as therapeutic drug targets.

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