Anti-Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor (nAChR) β4 Antibody

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ionotropic, cholinergic receptors that are divided into 2 types; muscle type and neuronal type. Neuronal nAChRs are pentameric ion channels consisting of 5 identical (homopentamers) or different (heteropentamers) subunits. Heteropentameric neuronal nAChRs mediate fast synaptic transmission in the autonomic nervous system. The predominant hetero-oligomeric nAChR in the CNS contain the subunits α4β2, whereas α3β4 prevail in the PNS. However, the expression of these subunits varies not only by region but also during development (Scholze et al 2011). In the brain, β2-containing receptors greatly outnumber receptors that contain β4 (McGehee & Role, 1995; Albuquerque, et al., 2009), and in most brain regions, targeted deletion of the β2 subunit virtually abolishes [3H]-epibatidine binding and receptor autoradiography (Zoli, et al., 1998) due to the absence of a β subunit required to form functional nAChRs (Champtiaux & Changeux, 2004).