Effects of selective central muscarinic blockade on schedule-controlled behavior and on the rate-decreasing effects of physostigmine.

N-(4-diethylamino-2-butynyl)-succinimide, or DKJ-21, is a muscarinic receptor antagonist with a high degree of selectivity for the central nervous system. In the present study of 6 rats maintained under a fixed-interval 50-sec schedule of food reinforcement, atropine and methylatropine reduced responding in a dose dependent manner, while DKJ-21 had little or no effect. Our findings suggest that the suppression caused by atropine and methylatropine may be the result of the dry mouth induced by these agents. Doses of DKJ-21 which had no effect on schedule performance antagonized the rate-lowering effects of physostigmine in all of the animals. Neither atropine nor methylatropine consistently antagonized the inhibitory effects of physostigmine. Some antagonism may be inferred, however, from the findings that response rates were suppressed less by combinations of atropine and physostigmine than by either drug alone.