Although these studies would seem to preclude an explanation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway as originally described (which requires the spleen), the α7nACh receptor is clearly involved as prior work has shown that pretreatment activation of α7nAChR using the specific agonist GTS-21 markedly decreased the development of acute pancreatitis (26). Here, CHRNA7 is linked to acute pancreatitis.