Molecular and cell biological characterisation of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) provides an insight into their functional roles and potential as therapeutic targets for neurological disorders. Nicotinic receptors are oligomeric ligandgated ion channels, comprising five subunits. Twelve vertebrate neuronal nAChR subunits (a2-al0 and (32-|34) have been cloned to date, with c...

BACKGROUND Ketamine inhibits the activation of both heteromeric and homomeric nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. The site of molecular interaction is unknown. METHODS The inhibition of alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors by ketamine was compared to that of 5-hydroxytryptamine-3A (5HT3A) receptors that are resistant to ketamine inhibition in Xenopus laevis oocytes. To determine whether th...

Unlike many nicotinic subunits, the a l nicotinic subunit and the 5-HT3A subunit are able to form functional homomeric receptors. Despite sharing this ability, they have differences in cell-surface expression in human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, with 5HT3A subunits forming a large number of functional receptors, whereas the a l subunit forms few or no correctly folded receptors as assayed by ...

Most cortical inhibitory cell types exclusively express one of three genes, parvalbumin, somatostatin and 5HT3a. We conjecture that these three inhibitory neuron types possess distinct roles in visual contextual processing based on two observations. First, they have distinctive synaptic sources and targets over different spatial extents and from different areas. Second, the visual responses of ...

Cortical interneurons activate GABA-A receptors to rapidly control electrical and biochemical signaling at pyramidal neurons. Different populations of interneurons are known to uniquely target the soma and dendrites of pyramidal neurons. However, the ability of these interneurons to inhibit Ca(2+) signaling at spines and dendrites is largely unexplored. Here we use whole-cell recordings, two-ph...

serotonin receptors are involved in pathophysiology of schizophrenia and may mediate other neurotransmitter effects. we investigated serotonin receptors gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmc) of naïve schizophrenic patients, before and after treatment. also serotonin receptor gene expression was compared in two treatment groups including haloperidol and olanzapine. the pbm...

asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways. the stress is a factor for asthma which indicates a disorder in the function of communicational mediators of nervous and  immunological systems  such  as  neurotransmitters.  a  study  indicated  that  blood serotonin concentration increases in asthmatic patients. other study indicates that one kind of the serotonin  receptors, named 5ht...

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways. The stress is a factor for asthma which indicates a disorder in the function of communicational mediators of nervous and immunological systems such as neurotransmitters. A study indicated that blood serotonin concentration increases in asthmatic patients. Other study indicates that one kind of the serotonin receptors, named 5HT3A, on PBM...

A.B. Muñoz-Manchado1,†, C. Foldi1,†, S. Szydlowski2,†, L. Sjulson3,4, M. Farries5, C. Wilson5, G. Silberberg2 and J. Hjerling-Leffler1 Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Department of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, NYU Neuroscience Institute, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, US...

The receptor chimera 7–5HT3A has served as a prototype for understanding the pharmacology of 7 neuronal nicotinic receptors, yet its low single channel conductance has prevented studies of the activation kinetics of single receptor channels. In this study, we show that introducing mutations in the M3–M4 cytoplasmic linker of the chimera alters neither the apparent affinity for the agonist nor t...