Abstract

The role of M₂ and M₃ receptors in the contractile and phosphoinositide responses elicited to oxotremorine-M was investigated in the guinea pig colon. Under standard conditions, both the contractile and phosphoinositide responses were insensitive to pertussis toxin and irreversibly antagonized by alkylation of M₃ receptors withN-(2-chloroethyl)-4-piperidinyl diphenylacetate. After treatment with N-(2-chloroethyl)-4-piperidinyl diphenylacetate, the remaining contractile response was sensitive to pertussis toxin and weakly antagonized by the M₂- and M₄-selective antagonist AF-DX 116. In contrast, the residual phosphoinositide response was unaffected by pertussis toxin. The pertussis toxin sensitivity of the remaining contractile response suggests that the M₂ receptor is mediating the contraction, whereas its weak antagonism by AF-DX 116 suggests that an alternate muscarinic subtype mediates the response. To explain this enigma, we investigated a mathematical model for receptor action based on an interaction between two receptor subtypes (M₂ and M₃). This model predicts that a response mediated by both the M₂ and M₃ receptor can be pertussis toxin sensitive yet exhibit an antagonistic profile indicative of an M₃ response.