The product of this gene belongs to the family of purinoceptors for ATP. This receptor functions as a ligand-gated ion channel with high calcium permeability. The main pharmacological distinction between the members of the purinoceptor family is the relative sensitivity to the antagonists suramin and PPADS. The product of this gene has the lowest sensitivity for these antagonists. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants, some protein-coding and some not protein-coding, have been found for this gene.