Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-05384-z
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Funding
- Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR)
- Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development (SOPHRD)
- European Social Fund
- Romanian Government [POSDRU/159/1.5/S/141531]
- National Program of Sustainability NPU I [LO1611]
- Romanian national [PN-II-109/2014]
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Clinical and experimental studies indicate that muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are potential pharmacological targets for the treatment of neurological diseases. Although these receptors have been described in human, bovine and rat cerebral microvascular tissue, a subtype functional characterization in mouse brain endothelium is lacking. Here, we show that all muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (M-1-M-5) are expressed in mouse brain microvascular endothelial cells. The mRNA expression of M-2, M-3, and M-5 correlates with their respective protein abundance, but a mismatch exists for M1 and M4 mRNA versus protein levels. Acetylcholine activates calcium transients in brain endothelium via muscarinic, but not nicotinic, receptors. Moreover, although M-1 and M-3 are the most abundant receptors, only a small fraction of M-1 is present in the plasma membrane and functions in ACh-induced Ca(2+)signaling. Bioinformatic analyses performed on eukaryotic muscarinic receptors demonstrate a high degree of conservation of the orthosteric binding site and a great variability of the allosteric site. In line with previous studies, this result indicates muscarinic acetylcholine receptors as potential pharmacological targets in future translational studies. We argue that research on drug development should especially focus on the allosteric binding sites of the M-1 and M-3 receptors.
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