Muscarinic cholinergic receptors of the convulsive strain (E1) mouse

The biochemical characteristics of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors were studied on the E1 strain mouse brain by the binding assay using [3H]1- quinuclidinyl benzylate. Scatchard analyses showed that the receptor density (Bmax) of the hippocampus significantly decreased by 26.4% and the affinity (Kd) increased by 18.8% in E1(+) compared to dd-Y. It is suggested that this hippocampal subsensitivity found in E1(+) mouse might be strain-specific, because repeated megimide convulsions failed to produce the same down regulation.