Agonists differentiate muscarinic receptors that inhibit cyclic AMP formation from those that stimulate phosphoinositide metabolism.

Muscarinic receptor stimulation elicits two distinct biochemical responses in embryonic chick heart cells: inhibition of catecholamine-stimulated cyclic AMP formation and stimulation of phosphoinositide (PhI) hydrolysis. We observe two major differences in the effects of agonists on these responses. First, carbachol and oxotremorine both inhibit cyclic AMP formation, but only carbachol stimulates PhI hydrolysis. Second, the dose-response relationships for the cyclic AMP and PhI responses differ; the half-maximal concentrations of carbachol needed to inhibit cAMP accumulation and stimulate PhI hydrolysis are 2 X 10(-7) and 2 X 10(-5) M, respectively. We carried out radioligand binding studies on intact chick heart cells to determine whether these data could be explained in terms of different agonist binding states of the muscarinic receptor. In intact cells, carbachol competes for [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate-binding sites with high and low affinity, while oxotremorine shows only high affinity binding. We suggest that the receptor state common to both agonists is the state associated with inhibition of adenylate cyclase, while the very low affinity binding site seen only with carbachol is associated with the PhI response. We also consider the possibility that both responses are caused by a single receptor state that is efficiently coupled to adenylate cyclase inhibition and inefficiently coupled to PhI hydrolysis. Whichever mechanism is correct, our findings demonstrate that muscarinic receptors coupled to adenylate cyclase and the PhI response can be differentiated by virtue of their sensitivity to agonist and the efficiency with which some agonists induce receptor change and elicit receptor-mediated biochemical responses.