Figure 1.

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) responses to Areca alkaloids. Oocytes expressing either human α4 and β2 nAChR subunits or α7 subunits were first evaluated for their responses to two control applications to acetylcholine (Ach), 30 µM for the α4β2-expressing cells or 60 µM for the α7-expressing cells and then for their responses to the Areca alkaloids applied at 100 µM. Alkaloid responses were calculated relative to the average of the two initial ACh applications. Responses of the α4β2 receptors were calculated as peak currents and the α7 responses as net charge.³⁴ Additionally, the α7 receptors were also tested with the alkaloids co-applied with 10 µM of the PAM PNU-120596, and those responses are scaled on the right-hand y-axis. In these experiments, the α4 and β2 subunit RNAs were co-injected at a 1:1 ratio.