[The high affinity binding site for chlorpromazine is present only as a single copy per cholinergic receptor molecule...

3H chlorpromazine binds to acetylcholine receptor-rich membrane fragments prepared from Torpedo marmorata electric organ in three different manners: (1) at the level of high affinity sites from which it is displaced by perhydrohistrionicotoxin, (2) at the level of low affinity sites insensitive to this toxin, and (3) in a non saturable manner to a presumably lipidic phase. Binding of chlorpromazine to the first two categories of sites independently stabilizes the "desensitized" high affinity state of the receptor for cholinergic agonists. There exists one high affinity site per two snake alpha-toxin sites, thus per 250,000 daltons light form of the receptor. Under the conditions of 3H chlorpromazine high affinity binding, ultraviolet irradiation results in the covalent incorporation of this ligand to the four chains of the receptor.