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Varenicline binds with high affinity and selectivity at α4β2 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholinereceptors. The efficacy of Varenicline in smoking cessation is believed to be the result of varenicline's activity at α4β2 sub-type of the nicotinic receptor where its binding produces agonist activity, while simultaneously preventing nicotine binding to these receptors.
Electrophysiology studies in vitro and neurochemical studies in vivo have shown that varenicline binds to α4β2 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and stimulates receptor-mediated activity, but at a significantly lower level than nicotine. Varenicline blocks the ability of nicotine to activate α4β2 receptors and thus to stimulate the central nervous mesolimbic dopamine system, believed to be the neuronal mechanism underlying reinforcement and reward experienced upon smoking. Varenicline is highly selective and binds more potently to α4β2 receptors than to other common nicotinic receptors ( >500-fold α3β4, >3,500fold α7, >20,000-fold α1βγδ), or to non-nicotinic receptors and transporters (> 2,000-fold). Varenicline also binds with moderate affinity (Ki = 350 nM) to the 5-HT3 receptor.