Evidence for nicotinic acetylcholine receptor activation in rat cerebellar slices

Melatonin Nocturnal Surge Modulates Nicotinic Receptors and Nicotine-Induced [3H]Glutamate Release in Rat Cerebellum Slices

“…The response to epibatidine, which is able to stimulate either heteromeric or homomeric nAChRs, was blocked by MLA and ␣-bungarotoxin and was not affected by dihydro-␤-erythroidine, an antagonist that blocks heteromeric receptors (Wonnacott, 1997). Thus, our data clearly point to the conclusion that ␣7-nAChRs are responsible for evoking [ 3 H]glutamate release from adult cerebellum slices, confirming previous observations (Renó and Markus, 2000;De Filippi et al, 2001).…”

“…In cerebellum slices of neonatal rats, ␣4␤2-and ␣7-nAChRs are likely to be present in the somatic and presynaptic levels, respectively (De Filippi et al, 2001), and receptors sensitive to dihydro-␤-erythroidine were shown to be present preterminally in Purkinje cells (Kawa, 2002). Using a neurochemical technique, we demonstrate that nicotineinduced […”

“…The prevalent functional nAChRs in the mammalian brain are those composed of ␣7 or ␣4␤2 subunits (Role and Berg, 1996), and can both mediate and modulate fast synaptic transmission in the brain. Activation of presynaptic or preterminal ␣7 or ␣4␤2 nAChRs enhances the release of many neurotransmitters in diverse brain regions (Lena et al, 1993;Guo et al, 1998;De Filippi et al, 2001). ␣7-containing nAChRs mediate fast cholinergic synaptic transmission onto interneurons in the mammalian hippocampus, which indicates that postsynaptic and somatic nAChRs can have biological roles, as they have in the periphery (Frazier et al, 1998;Hefft et al, 1999).…”

“…Binding to selective ligands indicates the presence of ␣4␤2 (Flores et al, 1992) and ␣7 subunits (Didier et al, 1995). Recent electrophysiological study shows that nAChRs present in the soma of granule cells are predominantly the ␣4␤2 subtype, whereas the ␣7 subtype is present preterminally and promotes the release of glutamate from mossy fibers (De Filippi et al, 2001). Receptors sensitive to dihydro-␤-erythroidine were detected electrophysiologically in Purkinje cells from 5-day-old rats.…”

Nicotinic Cholinergic Receptors in the Rat Cerebellum: Multiple Heteromeric Subtypes

“…In the cerebellum, nAChRs mediate the release of glutamate (Reno et al, 2004), GABA (De Filippi et al, 2001;Rossi et al, 2003), and norepinephrine (O'Leary and Leslie, 2003). Thus, these receptors may significantly influence activity within the cerebellar circuitry, and dysregulation of this activity could contribute to developmental disorders involving the cerebellum.…”