Abstract

Studies with [3H]pirenzepine [( 3H]PZ) suggest that this nonclassical muscarinic antagonist selectively identifies putative M1 muscarinic receptors. We now compare the ontogeny of these putative M1 sites, identified by high-affinity [3H]PZ binding, with sites identified by the classical antagonist (-)-[3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate ((-)-[3H]QNB) in murine cerebral cortical and cardiac homogenates. Dissociation constants (Kd) for [3H]PZ (2.1-6 nM in the cortex and 2.0-21 nM in the heart) and for (-)-[3H]QNB (10-28 pM in the cortex and 10-39 pM in the heart) are similar in adult and neonatal tissues, whereas receptor density (maximum binding, femtomoles per milligram of protein) varies significantly. Cerebral cortical [3H]PZ binding rises from 14% at birth, to 88% of adult levels by day 14, peaks at 128% at day 28 and falls to the mean adult level of 606 fmol/mg of protein. Cerebral cortical (-)-[3H]QNB binding parallels [3H]PZ binding. Conversely, parallel studies show cardiac (-)-[3H]QNB density is 3- to 17-fold greater than the comparable density of high-affinity [3H]PZ binding sites throughout ontogeny. We conclude that: 1) the high ratio of [3H]PZ binding to (-)-[3H]QNB binding identifies the murine cerebral cortex as a tissue which contains predominantly putative M1 muscarinic binding sites; 2) the relatively low ratio of [3H]PZ binding to (-)-[3H]QNB binding throughout ontogeny identifies the murine heart as a tissue which contains primarily the putative M2 muscarinic binding site; and 3) M1 and M2 receptor binding sites show distinct developmental curves in the cerebral cortex and heart.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)