G-protein modulation of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) channels in rat intrinsic cardiac ganglia was examined using dialyzed whole-cell and excised membrane patch-recording configurations. Cell dialysis with GTP␥S increased the agonist affinity of nAChRs, resulting in a potentiation of nicotine-evoked whole-cell currents at low concentrations. ACh-and nicotine-evoked current amplitudes were increased approximately twofold in the presence of GTP␥S. In inside-out membrane patches, the open probability (NP o ) of nAChR-mediated unitary currents was reversibly increased fourfold after bath application of 0.2 mM GTP␥S relative to control but was unchanged in the presence of GDPS. The modulation of nAChR-mediated whole-cell currents was agonist specific; currents evoked by the cholinergic agonists ACh, nicotine, and 1,1-dimethyl-4-phenylpiperazinium iodide, but not cytisine or choline, were potentiated in the presence of GTP␥S. The direct interaction between G-protein subunits and nAChRs was examined by bath application of either G o ␣ or G␥ subunits to inside-out membrane patches and in glutathione S-transferase pull-down and coimmunoprecipitation experiments. Bath application of 50 nM G␥ increased the open probability of ACh-activated single-channel currents fivefold, whereas G o ␣ (50 nM) produced no significant increase in NP o . Neuronal nAChR subunits ␣3-␣5 and 2 exhibited a positive interaction with G o ␣ and G␥, whereas 4 and ␣7 failed to interact with either of the G-protein subunits. These results provide evidence for a direct interaction between nAChR and G-protein subunits, underlying the increased open probability of ACh-activated single-channel currents and potentiation of nAChR-mediated whole-cell currents in parasympathetic neurons of rat intrinsic cardiac ganglia.