Li, Chaoying, Robert W. Peoples, and Forrest F. Weight. Mg2+ inhibition of ATP-activated current in rat nodose ganglion neurons: evidence that Mg2+ decreases the agonist affinity of the receptor. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 3391–3395, 1997. The effect of Mg2+ on ATP-activated current in rat nodose ganglion neurons was investigated with the use of the whole cell patch-clamp technique. Mg2+ decreased the amplitude of ATP-activated current in a concentration-dependent manner over the concentration range of 0.25–8 mM, with a 50% inhibitory concentration value of 1.5 mM for current activated by 10 μM ATP. Mg2+ shifted the ATP concentration-response curve to the right in a parallel manner, increasing the 50% effective concentration value for ATP from 9.2 μM in the absence of added Mg2+ to 25 μM in the presence of 1 mM Mg2+. Mg2+ increased the deactivation rate of ATP-activated current without changing its activation rate. The observations are consistent with an action of Mg2+ to inhibit ATP-gated ion channel function by decreasing the affinity of the agonist binding site on these receptors.