In insects, acetylcholine (ACh) is the main neurotransmitter, and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) mediate fast cholinergic synaptic transmission. In the honeybee, nAChRs are expressed in diverse structures including the primary olfactory centres of the brain, the antennal lobes (AL) and the mushroom bodies. Whole-cell, voltage-clamp recordings were used to characterize the nAChRs present on cultured AL cells from adult honeybee, Apis mellifera. In 90% of the cells, applications of ACh induced fast inward currents that desensitized slowly. The classical nicotinic agonists nicotine and imidacloprid elicited respectively 45 and 43% of the maximum ACh-induced currents. The ACh-elicited currents were blocked by nicotinic antagonists methyllycaconitine, dihydroxy-beta-erythroidine and alpha-bungarotoxin. The nAChRs on adult AL cells are cation permeable channels. Our data indicate the existence of functional nAChRs on adult AL cells that differ from nAChRs on pupal Kenyon cells from mushroom bodies by their pharmacological profile and ionic permeability, suggesting that these receptors could be implicated in different functions.

中文翻译：

---

研究成年蜜蜂大脑培养的触角叶神经元上的烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体。

在昆虫中，乙酰胆碱 (ACh) 是主要的神经递质，烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体 (nAChR) 介导快速胆碱能突触传递。在蜜蜂中，nAChR 在不同的结构中表达，包括大脑的初级嗅觉中心、触角叶 (AL) 和蘑菇体。全细胞电压钳记录用于表征来自成年蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）的培养的 AL 细胞上存在的 nAChR。在 90% 的细胞中，ACh 的应用会诱导快速的内向电流，而这些电流会缓慢地脱敏。经典的烟碱激动剂尼古丁和吡虫啉分别引起最大 ACh 诱导电流的 45% 和 43%。ACh 引发的电流被烟碱拮抗剂methyllycaconitine、dihydroxy-beta-erythroidine 和alpha-bungarotoxin 阻断。成人 AL 细胞上的 nAChR 是阳离子可渗透通道。我们的数据表明成年 AL 细胞上存在功能性 nAChR，其药理学特征和离子渗透性与来自蘑菇体的蛹 Kenyon 细胞上的 nAChR 不同，这表明这些受体可能涉及不同的功能。