Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on a cholinergic nerve terminal in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana.

Intracellular microelectrode recording and ionophoretic application of carbamylcholine (CCh) were used to compare the cholinergic sensitivity of postsynaptic dendrites of an identified neurone with that of an identified presynaptic cholinergic axon. The axon of the lateral filiform hair sensory neurone (LFHSN) in the first-instar cockroach Periplaneta americana was found to be as sensitive to CCh as the dendritic regions of giant interneurone 3 (GI 3). The CCh response of both neurones was unaffected by replacing Ca2+ with Mg2+, confirming that the ACh receptors are present on the neurones under test. The CCh response of both neurones was mimicked by ionophoretic application of nicotine. The responses were blocked by 10(-5) M mecamylamine and 10(-6) M d-tubocurarine and were not affected by muscarinic antagonists, suggesting that the ACh receptors present on GI 3 and LFHSN are predominantly nicotinic. The muscarinic agonist oxotremorine and the antagonists atropine and quinuclidinyl benzilate had no modulatory effect on LFHSN-GI 3 synaptic transmission. The latency of the LFHSN response to CCh was consistent with the hypothesis that ACh receptors are situated on the main axon/terminal within the neuropil of the ganglion. It has previously been shown that this region of the axon does not form output synapses (Blagburn et al. 1985a). This indirect evidence indicates that presynaptic or extrasynaptic ACh receptors are present in the membrane of a cholinergic axon. LFHSN was depolarized by synaptically-released ACh after normal or evoked spike bursts, suggesting that the nicotinic ACh receptors act as autoreceptors. However, it was not possible to obtain direct evidence to support the hypothesis that these receptors modulate ACh release.