The Distribution of Charged Amino Acid Residues and the Ca²⁺ Permeability of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors: A Predictive Model.

ABSTRACT: Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are cation-selective ligand-gated ion channels exhibiting variable Ca²⁺ permeability depending on their subunit composition. The Ca²⁺ permeability is a crucial functional parameter to understand the physiological role of nAChRs, in particular considering their ability to modulate Ca²⁺-dependent processes such as neurotransmitter release. The rings of extracellular and intracellular charged amino acid residues adjacent to the pore-lining TM2 transmembrane segment have been shown to play a key role in the cation selectivity of these receptor channels, but to date a quantitative relationship between these structural determinants and the Ca²⁺ permeability of nAChRs is lacking. In the last years the Ca²⁺

SUBMITTER: Fucile S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5447003 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature