Fig. 3.

Increasing the C/P in the plasmalemma of Xenopus laevis oocytes results in a reduction in macroscopic currents in muscle-type and Torpedo nAChRs. Families of current traces elicited by 100 µM ACh demonstrate that the reduction in macroscopic currents upon cholesterol enrichment depends on the nAChR subtype expressed in the Xenopus laevis oocytes. The reductions in macroscopic current that result from 15, 30, and 45 min incubations in cholesterol-enriched DOPC liposomes are 28, 26, and 38 % in case of the Torpedo nAChR; and 8, 29, and 46 % in the muscle nAChR. The 15 min incubations resulted in statistically significant differences in macroscopic current reductions between the muscle and the Torpedo nAChR (P value = 0.0095, two-tailed, unpaired t test analysis, Table 1) (Color figure online)