Distribution of cholinergic muscarinic binding sites in guinea-pig brain as determined by in vitro autoradiography of [3H]N-methyl scopolamine binding.

The distribution of muscarinic binding sites was analyzed in regions of the guinea-pig brain with semi-quantitative densitometry of [3H]N-methyl scopolamine binding, a muscarinic antagonist. In the rostral forebrain, high levels of binding were detected in the caudate putamen, nucleus accumbens and olfactory tubercle while intermediate levels of binding were observed in the medial and lateral septum, bed nucleus, and vertical and horizontal limbs of the diagonal band. The hypothalamus displayed binding that ranged from low levels in the preoptic area to intermediate levels in the mammillary nucleus. In limbic areas such as the thalamus, amygdala and hippocampus, a heterogeneous pattern of binding was evident in various subregions which tended to correspond with known innervation by cholinergic afferents. In the midbrain, binding was high in the superficial layer of the superior colliculus and the medial geniculate while intermediate binding was recorded in the lateral geniculate and the lateral aspect of the central gray. The pattern of muscarinic binding observed in the brain of the guinea-pig is similar to distributions of this binding site previously reported in the rat brain and the human brain.