Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors (nAChRs) mediate the physiological effects of exogenous nicotine. They also play critical physiological roles throughout the brain and body by mediating cholinergic excitatory neurotransmission, modulating the release of neurotransmitters, and having longer-term effects on gene expression and cellular connections1. nAChRs are pentameric complexes made up of combinations of a number of different nAChR subunits, which can be classified as α subunits and non-α subunits (‘structural’ subunits), which can be defined as β subunits when they are expressed in the vertebrate nervous system2. There are nine α subunits (α2-α10) and three β subunits (β2, β3, and β4) in the CNS3. Nicotinic receptors are assembled as combinations of α (2-6) and β (2-4) subunits
