nicotinic acetylcholine receptor
Physiology
noun
A type of protein ion-channel in post-synaptic membranes which opens when acetylcholine binds to it, this binding being blocked by nicotine (acetylcholine receptors were originally differentiated on the basis of their response to nicotine and muscarine).
Origin
1970s; earliest use found in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.