Recent reports indicate that organophosphate insecticides, in addition to inhibiting acetylcholinesterase activity, can bind directly at a subset of muscarinic receptors, which also bind cis-methyldioxolane with high affinity. Muscarinic receptors are known to act through at least two second messenger systems, either the stimulation of phosphoinositide turnover (mediated through the M1 and M3 receptor subtypes) or the inhibition of cAMP formation (mediated through the M2 and M4 receptor subtypes). We have investigated the action of the active forms of parathion, malathion, and chlorpyrifos (paraoxon, malaoxon, and chlorpyrifos oxon, respectively) on these second messenger systems in cortical slices from adult male Long-Evans rats. Paraoxon, malaoxon, and chlorpyrifos oxon (10(-8) to 10(-4) M) inhibited forskolin-stimulated cAMP formation in a concentration-dependent manner. The effect on cAMP formation was blocked by the muscarinic antagonist atropine (10 microM). These results suggest that paraoxon, malaoxon, and chlorpyrifos oxon can act as agonists at the M2 and/or M4 subset of muscarinic receptors. In addition, chlorpyrifos may have another site of action. In contrast, none of the organophosphates had any effect on basal or carbachol-stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis. The differential activity on these two second messenger systems make it unlikely that the observed effects on cAMP formation are due to increases in endogenous acetylcholine resulting from inhibition of acetylcholinesterase.