Key role of the TM2-TM3 loop in calcium potentiation of the α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

ABSTRACT: The α9α10 nicotinic cholinergic receptor (nAChR) is a ligand-gated pentameric cation-permeable ion channel that mediates synaptic transmission between descending efferent neurons and mechanosensory inner ear hair cells. When expressed in heterologous systems, α9 and α10 subunits can assemble into functional homomeric α9 and heteromeric α9α10 receptors. One of the differential properties between these nAChRs is the modulation of their ACh-evoked responses by extracellular calcium (Ca²⁺). While α9 nAChRs responses are blocked by Ca²⁺, ACh-evoked currents through α9α10 nAChRs are potentiated by Ca²⁺ in the micromolar range and blocked at millimolar concentrations. Using chimeric and mutant subunits, together with electrophysiological recordings under two-elect

SUBMITTER: Gallino SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11335262 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature