Recent pharmacological evidence has provided new insights into our understanding of cholinergic signaling in brain and have put the α4β2 and the α7 nAChRs in a center-stage position as possible targets for therapeutic intervention in neuropsychiatric diseases with cognitive deficits including autism spectrum disorders, nicotine addiction, schizophrenia spectrum disorders88, AD, and PD56,216–218. This evidence concerns the gene CHRNA7 and Alzheimer disease.