Cell
Volume 48, Issue 6, 27 March 1987, Pages 965-973
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Article
Members of a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene family are expressed in different regions of the mammalian central nervous system

https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(87)90705-7Get rights and content

Abstract

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors found in the peripheral and central nervous system differ from those found at the neuromuscular junction. Recently we isolated a cDNA clone encoding the α subunit of a neuronal acetylcholine receptor expressed in both the peripheral and cental nervous system. In this paper we report the isolation of a cDNA encoding the α subunit of a second acetylcholine receptor expressed in the central nervous system. Thus it is clear that there is a family of genes coding for proteins with sequence and structural homology to the α subunit of the muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Members of this gene family are expressed in different regions of the central nervous system and, presumably, code for subtypes of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

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      Over a two-year period in the early 1980s (1982–1983), several papers were published that described the isolation of cDNAs encoding the four subunits of the Torpedo electric organ nAChR (the α[36–38], β[39], γ[40,41] and δ[39] subunits). Following the cloning of Torpedo nAChRs, nAChR subunit cDNAs have been cloned from numerous other species, including the vertebrate muscle-type nAChR subunits (α1, β1, γ, δ and ɛ) [42–47] and the vertebrate neuronal subunits (α2–α10 and β2–β4) [48–58]. In addition, nAChRs have been cloned from numerous invertebrate species [6,59–61].

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    Present address: Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.

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