The α7 nAChR regulates, in part, the pleiotropic intracellular signaling effects of Ca 2+ . In addition to this, the receptor is closely linked to the signaling of cAMP (via adenylyl cyclase) as well as the kinases Fyn and PI3K (Oshikawa et al., 2003) . Disruption of lipid rafts with MβCD or SMase has significant effects on receptor desensitization kinetics (Colón-Sáez and Yakel, 2011) and hence the many important downstream signaling events. Additional interactions of the α7 nAChR have been assessed using a proteomic screen, which identified several proteins involved in neurite outgrowth and maintenance, namely α-catenin 2, BASP1/NAP-22, gelsolin, homer 1, and neuromodulin (Paulo et al., 2009 ). Further to this, the AD therapeutic donepezil protects against glutamate toxicity in part through stimulation of the α7 nAChR (Shen et al., 2010) . Given the central role of the α7 nAChR, it has been suggested promoting its activation via novel agonists may represent a new therapeutic approach in AD (Wang, 2010) .