Assuming that the nAChR-dependent mechanism we revealed can come into play sooner, our findings suggest that there are two dichotomous phases to the effect of synchronous CIN pauses: an ‘early’ period that is dominated by the consequences of removing tonic nAChR activation, and a more delayed period driven by diminished activation of mAChRs, where the responsiveness of SPNs to incoming cortical input is weakened, as shown previously (Zucca et al., 2018). The gene discussed is CHRNA4; the disease is cervical squamous intraepithelial neoplasia.