Search results for "Nicotinic Receptor"
showing 7 items of 37 documents
Interactions between cholinergic and fibroblast growth factor receptors in brain trophism and plasticity
2014
Acetylcholine, acting on both nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) and muscarinic receptors (mAChRs), plays a role in the regulation of synaptic plasticity, being involved in the regulation of cellular processes and cognitive functions, such as learning, memory and attention. Recently, G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), including mAChRs, have been reported to transactivate tyrosine-kinase receptors (RTK), such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and initiate their intracellular signaling. In this minireview we have first analysed the RTK transactivation mechanisms, involving cholinergic receptors, and thereafter the interplay between AChR and neurotrophic factor systems built up by FGF2 a…
Thermodynamics and kinetics of ion permeation in wild-type and mutated open active conformation of the human α7 nicotinic receptor
2020
Molecular studies of human pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) expressed in neurons and at neuromuscular junctions are of utmost importance in the development of therapeutic strategies for neurological disorders. We focus here on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor nAChR-α7, a homopentameric channel widely expressed in the human brain, with a proven role in a wide spectrum of disorders including schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. By exploiting an all-atom structural model of the full (transmembrane and extracellular) protein in the open, agonist-bound conformation we recently developed, we evaluate the free energy and the mean first passage time of single-ion permeation using …
Neurotrophic effects of central nicotinic receptor activation
2000
A growing number of data have shown that compounds interacting with neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) have, both in vivo and in vitro, the potential to be neuroprotective and that treatment with nAChR agonists elicit long-lasting improvement of cognitive performance in a variety of behavioural tests in rats, monkeys and humans. Epidemiological and clinical studies suggested also a potential neuroprotective/trophic role of (-)-nicotine in neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. This neuroprotective/trophic role of nAChR activation has been mainly mediated by alpha7 and alpha4beta2 nAChR subtypes, as evidenced using selective nAChR ant…
The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist (±)-epibatidine increases FGF-2 mRNA and protein levels in the rat brain
2000
Abstract In a previous work, we showed that acute intermittent nicotine treatment up-regulates the level of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) mRNA in brain regions of tel- and mesencephalon of rats suggesting that neuroprotective effect of (−)nicotine may, at least in part, involve an activation of the neuronal FGF-2 signalling. The present experiments were designed to extend the study on the nicotinic receptor mediated up-regulation of FGF-2 mRNA levels to the use of the potent nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist (±)-epibatidine. The (±)-epibatidine treatment led to a strong and long lasting up-regulation of FGF-2 mRNA expression in the cerebral cortex, in the hippocampal for…
Increased sensitivity of the alpha-2 neuronal nicotinic receptor causes familial epilepsy with nocturnal wandering and ictal fear
2006
Thermodynamics and kinetics of ion translocation in the human wild-type and E-1_A α7 nicotinic receptor
2021
We use an all-atom model of the human nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α7 in a conductive conformation, to provide the first available mapping of the potential of mean force for the ion translocation across the channel. The modeling is based on MD simulations combined with the milestoning method with Voronoi tessellation. The quality of the protein model and description is confirmed by the agreement with experimental data for proteins of the same family. The specific mutation E-1 ' A at the cytoplasmatic filter is here shown to strongly affect both sodium and chloride permeation, leading to a complete inversion of selectivity.