Brain muscarinic cholinergic receptor binding in Roman high- and low-avoidance rats.

This experiment sought to determine whether the behavioral differences between the Roman high-(RHA/Verh) and low-avoidance (RLA/Verh) lines of rats could be related to differences in the number and/or affinity of brain muscarinic cholinergic receptors. The binding of the specific muscarinic antagonist 3H-quinuclidinyl benzilate to crude membrane preparations from the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and striatum was determined. There were no significant differences between the two rat lines for the number of muscarinic binding sites (Bmax) or the apparent dissociation constant (KD) as determined by Scatchard analysis of the saturation isotherms. These data indicate that the behavioral differences between RHA/Verh and RLA/Verh rats cannot be accounted for by differences in the number or affinity of brain muscarinic cholinergic receptors.