Brain nicotinic acetylcholine receptors : native subtypes and their relevance

A review. Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors comprise a heterogeneous class of cationic channels that is present throughout the nervous system. These channels are involved both in physiol. functions (including cognition, reward, motor activity and analgesia) and in pathol. conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, some forms of epilepsy, depression, autism and schizophrenia. They are also the targets of tobacco-smoking effects and addiction. Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are pentamers of homomeric or heteromeric combinations of a (a2-a10) and b (b2-b4) subunits, which have different pharmacol. and biophys. properties and locations in the brain. The lack of subtype-specific ligands and the fact that many neuronal cells express multiple subtypes initially hampered the identification of the different native nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes, but the increasing knowledge of subtype compn. and roles will be of considerable interest for the development of new and clin. useful nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ligands.