Relative affinities of drugs acting at cholinoceptors in displacing agonist and antagonist radioligands: the NMS/Oxo-M ratio as an index of efficacy at cortical muscarinic receptors.

1. Radioligand binding assays using [3H]-N-methylscopolamine (NMS) and [3H]-oxotremorine M (Oxo-M) have been devised to predict the efficacy of test compounds at muscarinic receptors in rat cerebral cortex. 2. Muscarinic antagonists, including non-selective and both M1- and M2-selective compounds, displayed similar affinity for both binding assays. 3. Full agonists such as carbachol and muscarine possessed a ratio of potencies against the antagonist versus the agonist ligand (NMS/Oxo-M ratio) of greater than 4000. 4. Compounds which have been shown previously to display partial agonist activity in functional assays e.g. pilocarpine and RS86 had intermediate NMS/Oxo-M ratios of 100-150. A second group of compounds which included oxotremorine had somewhat higher ratios (500-1400). 5. The ratio of affinity constants for the two assays predicted the ability of agonists to stimulate cortical phosphatidyl-inositol turnover. 6. These results suggest that the NMS/Oxo-M ratio may be a useful prediction of efficacy for novel compounds acting at cortical muscarinic receptors.