Fig. 8.

Menthol hinders the recovery of α3β4 nAChRs from desensitization. (A) Representative inward currents showing desensitization induced by coapplied 30 μM ACh and 100 μM menthol and the subsequent response to ACh following a 5-minute wash in either control bath solution (upper traces) or 100 μM menthol (lower traces). (B) Time course for recovery following the treatment described in (A), control (open circles), and menthol (closed circles). Data are the means ± S.E.M. of three to five experiments. (C) Menthol (100 μM) prevents recovery of α3β4 nAChRs following desensitization with 300 μM Ach, but receptors almost fully recover after 1 minute washout with control solution (n = 3).