Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, or nAChRs, are cholinergic receptors that form ligand-gated ion channels in the plasma membranes of certain neurons and on the postsynaptic side of theneuromuscular junction . As ionotropic receptors, nAChRs are directly linked to ion channels and do not use second messengers (as metabotropic receptors do.
If u think nicotine receptors are only important to smokers trying to kick the tobacco habit,then there's also a good news for them!New research suggests that these receptors also play an important role in social interaction and the ability to choose between competing motivations.This new knowledge could one day lead to novel treatments for ADHD,Schizophrenia and depression,among other illnesses.
"One of the main aims would be to understand and help people to make good decisions for themselves and to maintain,during old age,such abilities in the social domain as well as in other aspects of our lives",said Sylvie Granon,a researcher involved in the work from the Universite Paris Sud XI and CNRS UMR 8620,Centre de Neurosciences Paris-Sud,Orsay,France.To make this discovery,Granon and colleagues introduced a mice with perfrontal cortex and then removing it and analysing the results.
"This research can be summed up by saying that it's the real life equivalent of Chatty Cathy marrying the Marlboro Man. Who could have guessed that there may be a biological explanation for 'social butteflies'.This explanation was found in an area of the brain(perfrontal cortex) that for decades has been considered a locus for nicotine addiction",said Gerald Weissmann,M.D.,Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal.claim token RUX5UZ27UCWE
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