Functional nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are expressed in B lymphocyte-derived cell lines.

Nicotine has been shown to affect B lymphocyte immune response. In this study, we have explored the presence of nicotinic receptors in B lymphocyte-derived cell lines, myeloma X63-Ag8 and hybridoma 1D6. We found that myeloma expressed on average 10,170 +/- 1,100 [3H]epibatidine and 6,730 +/- 370 125I-alpha-bungarotoxin binding sites per cell, thus reflecting the presence of both homomeric and heteromeric nicotinic receptors.

Alpha subunit composition of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the rat autonomic ganglia neurons as determined with subunit-specific anti-alpha(181-192) peptide antibodies.

The subunit composition of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors of rat autonomic ganglia neurons was studied by means of antibodies, which differentiated between different alpha subunits and specifically blocked acetylcholine-induced membrane currents. Polyclonal rabbit antibodies and mouse monoclonal antibodies were raised against synthetic peptides matching in sequence the alpha(181-192) region of alpha3, alpha4, alpha5, and alpha7 subunits of rat neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. The antibodies discriminated among alpha3, alpha4, alpha5, and alpha7 peptides in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and bound to native acetylcholine receptors expressed in PC-12 cells.