Application: IP
Clonality: Polyclonal
Host: Rabbit
Purification: Serum
Reactivity: Rat, Human
Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, or mAChRs, are acetylcholine receptors that form G protein-coupled receptor complexes in the cell membranes of certain neurons and other cells. They play several roles, including acting as the main end-receptor stimulated by acetylcholine released from postganglionic fibers in the parasympathetic nervous system. Muscarinic receptors are so named because they are more sensitive to muscarine than to nicotine. By the use of selective radioactively labeled agonist and antagonist substances, five subtypes of muscarinic receptors have been determined, named M1-M5 (using an upper case M and subscript number). M1, M3, M5 receptors are coupled with Gq proteins, while M2 and M4 receptors are coupled with Gi/o proteins.
M4 muscarinic receptors are coupled to Gi/o heterotrimeric proteins. They function as inhibitory autoreceptors for acetylcholine. Activation of M4 receptors inhibits acetylcholine release in the striatum. The M2 subtype of acetylcholine receptor functions similarly as an inhibitory autoreceptor to acetylcholine release, albeit functioning actively primarily in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors possess a regulatory effect on dopaminergic neurotransmission. Activation of M4 receptors in the striatum inhibit D1-induced locomotor stimulation in mice. M4 receptor-deficient mice exhibit increased locomotor simulation in response to D1 agonists, amphetamine and cocaine. Neurotransmission in the striatum influences extrapyramidal motor control, thus alterations in M4 activity may contribute to conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease. [Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M4, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Muscarinic_acetylcholine_receptor_M4&oldid=914772257 (last visited Oct. 1, 2019).]
References:
1) K. Shiozaki, E. Iseki, H. Uchiyama, Y. Watanabe, T. Haga, K. Kameyama, T. Yamada, T. Yamamoto, K. Kosaka Alterations of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes in diffuse Lewy body disease: relation to Alzheimer’s’s disease J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1999 Aug; 67 (2): 209-13.
2) Kazumasa Shiozaki, Eizo Iseki, Hiroaki Hino, Kenji Kosaka Distribution of m1 acetylcholine receptors in the hippocampus of patients with patients and patients with dementia with Lewy bodies-an immunohistochemistry study J Neurol Sci. 2001 Dec 15.