Detection and trapping of intermediate states priming nicotinic receptor channel opening.

ABSTRACT: In the course of synaptic transmission in the brain and periphery, acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) rapidly transduce a chemical signal into an electrical impulse. The speed of transduction is facilitated by rapid ACh association and dissociation, suggesting a binding site relatively non-selective for small cations. Selective transduction has been thought to originate from the ability of ACh, over that of other organic cations, to trigger the subsequent channel-opening step. However, transitions to and from the open state were shown to be similar for agonists with widely different efficacies. By studying mutant AChRs, we show here that the ultimate closed-to-open transition is agonist-independent and preceded by two primed closed states; the first primed state elicits brief openings, wherea

SUBMITTER: Mukhtasimova N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2712348 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature