Investigation on native vesicles containing the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor using FTIR-spectroscopy

The ligand gated ion channel nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is responsibl e for the electrochemical signal transduction in nerve cells and at the mot or endplates. In the recent years the structure of the channel has emerged to a resolution of 4.6 Angstrom [J. Mol. Biol. 288 (1999) 765]. We have use d ATR-FTIR and SEIRA spectroscopy to investigate the extramembraneous struc ture of the receptor. The adsorption of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ri ch vesicles on the surface of Ag-cluster leads to the detection of high con tent of helical structure in the extra membranous parts of the receptor. Sp ectra indicate a P-sheet structure perpendicular to the crystal plane. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.