In particular, one of the most prominent examples of a lipid raft-linked signaling protein is the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), a Ca 2+ channel (Albuquerque et al., 2009 ), which has a close involvement with Aβ and cognitive decline (Albuquerque et al., 2009; Jurgensen and Ferreira, 2009; Hernandez et al., 2010) . On balance, the α7 nAChR seems to have a www.frontiersin.org neuroprotective role in model systems. Significant amounts of the α7 nAChR are associated with lipid rafts and these rafts are essential for maintenance of function (Bruses et al., 2001) . Lipid rafts appear to assist the interaction between soluble Aβ and the receptor (Khan et al., 2010) . Although α7 KO mice show no apparent cognitive defects, Aβ 42 is enriched and Aβ oligomers are enhanced in hippocampi from these animals (Hernandez et al., 2010) .