Figure 8.

Presence of functional α7 nAChRs demonstrated using three α7-selective ligands. (A-C) Currents from cells stimulated with ACh (300 μM, green symbols) then with the agonist PNU282987 (30 μM, red symbols) followed by exposure to the PAM PNU120596 (3 μM). (A-B) PNU282987-evoked currents (−36 ± 41 pA) were observed in 18/28 cells. Stimulation of the cells with PNU282987 in the presence of PNU120596 resulted in a 54 ± 99-fold increase in current amplitudes (−29 ± 38 pA to −1275 ± 1668 pA; ****p ≤ 0.0001, Wilcoxon Signed Rank test) in 24/28 cells including six cells (A) that initially showed no response to PNU282987. (B) Exposure to the antagonist [V11L,V16D]ArIB (300 nM) reduced the modulated currents to 2 ± 2% of controls in 10/10 cells in which the antagonist was applied. (C) In 4/28 cells exposed to PNU120596, no PNU282987-evoked currents were observed (−4.5 ± 0.4 pA vs −3.9 ± 1.2 pA, respectively). (D) Scatter plot showing the current amplitudes evoked by ACh compared to PNU282987 and the currents evoked by PNU282987 in the presence of the PNU120596. The ACh-evoked currents in these cells were −2730 ± 1789 pA (n=24). Data are from cells that responded to PNU120596. The ‘±’ values and the error bars in (D) indicate the SD; ‘n’ values indicate the number of cells obtained from three separate cell cultures.