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Interaction of a fluorescent probe with acetylcholine-activated synaptic membrane

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Abstract

GRÜNHAGEN and Changeux have shown1,2 that Torpedo membrane fragments stained with the antimalarial, quinacrine, show a rapid increase in fluorescence after mixing with cholinergic agonists (see ref. 3). These authors suggest that the fluorescence intensity of quinacrine associated with cholinergic receptors increases during the transition of the receptor from its resting to its active state. We report here an electrophysiological analysis of the kinetic behaviour of the postsynaptic membrane of intact vertebrate muscle fibres treated with quinacrine. The kinetic data from the fluorescence and electrophysiological experiments show remarkable parallels, and we suggest that both experimental procedures reveal the binding of quinacrine to the activated receptor.

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Author notes

  1. P. R. ADAMS

    Present address: Department of Physiology and biophysics, U.T.M.B., Galveston, Texas, 77550

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Neurobiologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46, rue d'Ulm, 75230, PARIS, CEDEX 05, France

    P. R. ADAMS & A. FELTZ

Authors
  1. P. R. ADAMS
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  2. A. FELTZ
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ADAMS, P., FELTZ, A. Interaction of a fluorescent probe with acetylcholine-activated synaptic membrane. Nature 269, 609–611 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/269609a0

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