Imidacloprid agonist actions

Figure 4. Agonist actions of imidacloprid and related compounds on chicken a4p2(A) and Drosophila SAD-chicken p2 (B) nicotinic acetylcholine receptors expressed inXenopus oocytes. Abbreviations ACh, acetylcholine CH-IMI, a nitromethylene analog of imidacloprid. Reproduced from ref. 14 with permission of Elsevier.

Figure 5. Agonist actions of imidacloprid on the wild-type and mutant (Q79E, Q79K ami Q79R) a7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Abbreviation ACh, acetylcholine, Reproducedfiomref 29with permission of Nature Publishing Group,...

The acute toxicity (i.e., lethal potency) of imidacloprid, other neonicotinoids, and related analogs in mammals is most closely related to potency at the 7 nicotinic receptor subtype, followed in order by potency at 1x4, fSx, 0(3, and aj nicotinic receptors, respectively. However, acute toxicity in mammals involves complex actions (agonist and antagonist) at multiple receptor subtypes and these actions vary greatly with minor changes in chemical structure. 

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