RevIew Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in attention circuitry: the role of layer VI neurons of prefrontal cortex

act in isolation, but rather in concert with cholinergic recep-tors in other parts of prefrontal circuitry. This review urges an intensification of focus on the cellular mechanisms and plasticity of prefrontal attention circuitry. Disruptions in attention are one of the greatest contributing factors to dis-ease burden in psychiatric and neurological disorders, and enhancing attention may require different approaches in the normal and disordered prefrontal cortex. Keywords Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors · Attention · chrna5 · Medial prefrontal cortex · electrophysiology Attention has been eloquently described as the ‘search-light ’ that focuses on relevant information in the midst of distraction in order to support goal-directed behavior [1]. In particular, it plays a pivotal role in mediating the executive functions of the prefrontal cortex [2, 3], a sit