Carbachol depresses synaptic responses in the medial but not the lateral perforant path.

The effects of applications of carbachol on evoked synaptic responses recorded in the dentate gyrus of guinea pig hippocampal slices were examined. Carbachol depressed potentials recorded extracellularly in the medial perforant path terminal zone, but did not significantly alter field potentials recorded in the lateral perforant path terminal zone. Carbachol-induced depression was reversed by applications of the muscarinic antagonists, atropine or pirenzepine. It was suggested that the difference observed in carbachol-induced depression of medial versus lateral perforant path field potentials may be due to regional differences in acetylcholine receptor distribution in the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus.