Fig 4. Proteins that could affect the life-cycle of α7-nAChRs.

A total of twenty-one identified proteins have functions that could affect the life-cycle of the α7-nAChR, e.g., receptor biogenesis, modulation of intracellular and plasma-membrane expressed receptor pools, as well as receptor turnover, autophagy, or apoptosis related. These proteins are grouped based on their reported cellular compartment localization. The activity of these proteins may be localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (A), the Golgi complex (B), or the cytosol (C&D). Cytosolic proteins can either be involved in the mobilization of internal pools of α7-nAChRs through kinase and phosphatase activity (C) or be associated with protein turnover, autophagy, and apoptosis-related processes (D).