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Identification of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on lymphocytes in the periphery as well as thymus in mice
Author(s) -
TOYABE S.,
IIAI T.,
FUKUDA M.,
KAWAMURA T.,
SUZUKI S.,
UCHIYAMA M.,
ABO T.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.297
H-Index - 133
eISSN - 1365-2567
pISSN - 0019-2805
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2567.1997.00323.x
Subject(s) - acetylcholine receptor , receptor , fluorescein isothiocyanate , nicotinic agonist , bungarotoxin , nicotinic acetylcholine receptor , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , acetylcholine , lymphocyte , chemistry , medicine , endocrinology , biochemistry , immunology , fluorescence , physics , quantum mechanics
The existence of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) on lymphocytes remains controversial. We attempted to show the existence of nAChR on murine lymphocytes. The intraperitoneal injection of nicotine induced the lymphocytosis in the spleen on day 3. Although freshly isolated lymphocytes bound small quantities of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)‐conjugated &agr;‐bungarotoxin (&agr;BuTx), they began to bind &agr;BuTx after incubation in medium. In contrast to granulocytes, various lymphocyte subsets obtained from various lymphoid organs were found to bind &agr;BuTx. Affinity purification of &agr;BuTx‐binding protein revealed that lymphocytes expressed the same nAChR molecules as those of muscle. Reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) analysis showed that lymphocytes expressed the &agr;‐subunit mRNA of nAChR. These results suggest that lymphocytes carry nAChR on the surface and are stimulated directly via their nAChR by parasympathetic nerve stimuli.