Journal
BIOCHEMICAL PHARMACOLOGY
Volume 97, Issue 4, Pages 378-387Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2015.07.018
Keywords
Glutamate; alpha 7 nicotinic receptor; Neurotransmission; Synaptic plasticity; Nicotine
Categories
Funding
- Stavros Niarchos Foundation
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Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) play an important role in a variety of modulatory and regulatory processes including neurotransmitter release and synaptic transmission in various brain regions of the central nervous system (CNS). Glutamate is the principal excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and the glutamatergic system participates in the pathophysiology of several neuropsychiatric disorders. Underpinning the importance of nAChRs, many studies demonstrated that nAChRs containing the alpha 7 subunit facilitate glutamate release. Here, we review the currently available body of experimental evidence pertaining to alpha 7 subunit containing nAChRs in their contribution to the modulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission, and we highlight the role of alpha 7 in synaptic plasticity, the morphological and functional maturation of the glutamatergic system and therefore its important contribution in the modulation of neural circuits of the CNS. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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