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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Localization of Plasma Membrane and Intracellular Neuronal Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Using Quantitative Imaging in Mammalian Cells
Published on: December 19, 2025
The structure of the third intracellular loop of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M2 subtype
Susumu Ichiyama1, Yoshiaki Oka, Kazuko Haga
1Institute for Biomolecular Science, Gakushuin University, 1-5-1 Mejiro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171-8588, Japan.
Abstract:
We have examined whether the long third intracellular loop (i3) of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M2 subtype has a rigid structure. Circular dichroism (CD) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of M2i3 expressed in and purified from Escherichia coli indicated that M2i3 consists mostly of random coil. In addition, the differential CD spectrum between the M2 and M2deltai3 receptors, the latter of which lacks most of i3 except N- and C-terminal ends, gave no indication of secondary structure. These results suggest that the central part of i3 of the M2 receptor has a flexible structure.
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