Discovery of the First Neurotransmitter Receptor: The Acetylcholine Nicotinic Receptor

Abstract

The concept of pharmacological receptor was proposed at the turn of the 20th century but it took almost 70 years before the first receptor for a neurotransmitter was isolated and identified as a protein. This review retraces the history of the difficulties and successes in the identification of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, the first neurotransmitter receptor to be identified.

Keywords

• pharmacological receptor
• nicotinic acetylcholine receptor
• first identification of a receptor
• history of neuroscience