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Nature Neuroscience 10, 937–938 (1 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/nn0807-937

Nicotinic receptor structure emerging slowly

Titia K Sixma

For the longest time, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) has served as a playground for the neurobiology community, allowing relatively early and easy testing of concepts in neurotransmission. Nicotinic receptors provided the early work on ion channels, the testing ground for electrophysiology, the arena for sequencing, a test site for neurotoxins, the first electron microscopy images and an opportunity for cysteine-scanning mutagenesis.