Muscarinic receptors in rat nasal mucosa are predominantly of the low affinity agonist type.

Specific [3H]l-quinuclidinyl benzilate binding to rat nasal mucosa homogenates occurs to a homogeneous class of binding sites with Kd = 60 +/- 2 10(-12) M and Bmax = 8.1 +/- 2 pmol/g tissue. Binding is stereoselectively inhibited by benzetimide enantiomers. Pirenzepine inhibits [3H]l-quinuclidinyl benzilate binding with low affinity (Ki = 5.0 10(-7) M), classifying the binding sites as muscarinic M2-receptors. Methylfurtrethonium and methacholine inhibit [3H]l-quinuclidinyl benzilate binding following an almost sigmoid curve at high concentrations pointing to the presence of mainly low affinity agonist binding sites.