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Function of muscarinic and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors

Abstract

ACETYLCHOLINE receptors in vertebrates can be classified in two categories—nicotinic and muscarinic—on the basis of differential sensitivity to agonist and antagonist compounds1,2. This pharmacological distinction, although useful both in therapeutics and in experimental physiology, has no known biological significance. I wish to show here that there are marked kinetic differences between nicotinic and muscarinic receptors, and to suggest that these differences have a clear physiological meaning.

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PURVES, R. Function of muscarinic and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Nature 261, 149–151 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261149a0

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