A discontinuous relationship between the acetylcholine-activated channel conductance and temperature

SINCE the introduction of acetylcholine (ACh) 'noise' analysis ^1,2, it has been shown that several manipulations affect ACh-receptor molecular events^3-5. The ACh receptor is an integral membrane protein and is therefore intimately associated with surrounding membrane lipids. We have begun experiments using embryonic chick muscle in culture to determine whether surrounding lipids affect the function of the ACh receptor. As a first step, we have analysed ACh current noise to determine the temperature dependence of the mean single channel conductance (ḡ_o) and open time (t̄₀).