There are two kinds of acetylcholine receptor in nature: nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. We should notice that the mAChRs are not ion channels, but belong instead to the superfamily of G-protein-coupled receptors that activate other ionic channels via a second messenger cascade. So in this page we just talk about the nAChR.
[1] or to the article describing Jmol [2] to the rescue.
Pentameric ligand-gated ion channel
Pentameric ligand gated ion channels(), or Cys-loop receptors,mediate rapid chemical transmission of signals. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is a kind of pentameric ligand gated ion channels. So at first of this page, we introduce some facts of the pentameric ligand gated ion channels, which will help us to understand the structure and function of AChR.
Acetylcholine receptor
Acetylcholine binding protein
The binding site of AChR
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