摘要：

Long-term potentiation (LTP) can be modulated by a number of neurotransmitter receptors including muscarinic and GABAergic receptor types. We have found that a novel nicotinic agonist, 2,4-dimethoxybenzylidene anabaseine (DMXB), facilitated the induction of LTP in the hippocampus in a dose-dependent and mecamylamine-sensitive manner. DMXB displaced high affinity nicotinic [ 125 I]α-bungarotoxin and [ 3 H]acetylcholine binding in rat brain. Xenopus oocyte studies demonstrated that DMXB has agonist activity at α7 but not α4/β2 nicotinic receptor subtypes. These results indicated that DMXB is a novel nicotinic agonist with apparent specificity for the α7/α-bungarotoxin nicotinic receptor subtype and indicate that nicotinic receptor activation is capable of modulating the induction of long-term potentiation.

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