Ligand-Gated Ion Channels: Permeation and Activation1

Ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) are fast-responding channels in which the receptor, which binds the activating molecule (the ligand), and the ion channel are part of the same nanomolecular protein complex. This chapter will describe the properties and functions of the nicotinic acetylcholine LGIC superfamily, which play a critical role in the fast chemical transmission of electrical signals between nerve cells at synapses and between nerve and muscle cells at endplates. All the processing functions of the brain and the resulting behavioral output depend on chemical transmission across such neuronal interconnections. To describe the properties of the channels of this LGIC superfamily,we will mainly use two examples of this family of channels: the excitatory nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) and the inhibitory glycine receptor (GlyR) channels. In the chemical transmission of electrical signals, the arrival of an electrical signal at the synaptic terminal of a nerve causes the release of a chemical signal—a neurotransmitter molecule (the ligand, also referred to as the agonist). The neurotransmitter rapidly diffuses across the very narrow 20–40 nm synaptic gap between the cells and binds to the LGIC receptors in the membrane of the target (postsynaptic) cell and generates a new electrical signal in that cell (e.g., Kandel et al., 2000). How this chemical signal is converted into an electrical one depends on the fundamental properties of LGICs and the ionic composition of the postsynaptic cell and its external solution.