Muscarinic receptors on rat isolated colonic epithelial cells. A correlation between inhibition of [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate binding and alteration in ion transport.

Muscarinic cholinergic agonists stimulate secretion or inhibit absorption in the large intestine both in vivo and in vitro, effects that are completely inhibited by atropine, a specific muscarinic antagonist. These studies were performed to determine if the muscarinic-induced alteration in electrolyte transport in rat colon was produced by muscarinic agonists binding directly to receptors on colonic enterocytes. We found that crude membranes prepared from rat isolated colonic epithelial cells had a specific, saturable, high affinity receptor for L-[benzilic-4,4-3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate, a potent muscarinic antagonist with an apparent dissociation coefficient of 0.56 +/- 0.11 nM and a maximum number of binding sites of 42.5 +/- 5.7 fmol/mg protein. Muscarinic antagonists inhibited L-[benzilic-4,4-3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate binding in nanomolar concentrations, and muscarinic agonists inhibited L-[benzilic-4,4-3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate binding in micromolar concentrations. In parallel studies, oxotremorine and bethanechol, muscarinic agonists, and racemic quinuclidinyl benzilate altered short-circuit current in rat colon in vitro in concentrations that were in good agreement with the concentrations that inhibited L-[benzilic-4,4-3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate binding to the crude membrane preparation. Thus, these studies demonstrate that the muscarinic-induced alteration in colonic electrolyte transport is directly related to agonist binding to a specific muscarinic receptor on the colonic epithelial cell.