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1 The muscarinic receptor subtype involved in the methacholine-induced enhancement of phosphoinositide metabolism in bovine tracheal smooth muscle was identified by using the M2-selective antagonist AF-DX 116 and the M3-selective antagonist 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-methylpiperidine (4-DAMP) methobromide, in addition to the M -selective antagonist pirenzepine, in a classical Schild analysis. 2 All the antagonists shifted the methacholine dose-response curve to the right in a parallel and concentration-dependent fashion, yielding Schild plots with slopes not significantly different from unity. The pA2 values (6.94, 6.32 and 8.54 for pirenzepine, AF-DX 116 and 4-DAMP methobromide respectively) indicate that it is the M3 (smooth muscle/glandular), but not the M2 (cardiac) muscarinic receptor subtype, present in this tissue, that mediates phosphoinositide turnover, in accordance with our previous contractile studies. 3 The results provide additional evidence for the involvement of phosphoinositide turnover in the pharmacomechanical coupling between muscarinic receptor stimulation and contraction in (bovine tracheal) smooth muscle.

Radiation-induced dysfunction of normal tissue, an unwanted side effect of radiotherapeutic treatment of cancer, is usually considered to be caused by impaired loss of cell renewal due to sterilisation of stem cells. This implies that the onset of normal tissue damage is usually determined by tissue turnover rate. Salivary glands are a clear exception to this rule: they have slow turnover rates (460 days), yet develop radiation-induced dysfunction within hours to days. We showed that this could not be explained by a hypersensitivity to radiation-induced apoptosis or necrosis of the differentiated cells. In fact, salivary cells are still capable of amylase secretion shortly after irradiation while at the same time water secretion seems specifically and severely impaired. Here, we demonstrate that salivary gland cells isolated after in vivo irradiation are impaired in their ability to mobilise calcium from intracellular stores (Ca 2 þ i ), the driving force for water secretion, after exposure to muscarinic acetylcholine receptor agonists. Using radioligandreceptor-binding assays it is shown that radiation caused no changes in receptor density, receptor affinity nor in receptor-G-protein coupling. However, muscarinic acetylcholine agonist-induced activation of protein kinase C alpha (PKCa), measured as translocation to the plasma membrane, was severely affected in irradiated cells. Also, the phorbol ester PMA could no longer induce PKCa translocation in irradiated cells. Our data hence indicate that irradiation specifically interferes with PKCa association with membranes, leading to impairment of intracellular signalling. To the best of our knowledge, these data for the first time suggest that, the cells' capacity to respond to a receptor agonist is impaired after irradiation.

We have characterized the muscarine receptors in bovine tracheal and left ventricular membranes using 3H-dexetimide/pirenzepine and 3H-dexetimide/AF-DX 116 competition studies. Pirenzepine exhibited low (M2) affinity binding to both preparations; Kd was 590 nM in left ventricle and 463 nM in trachea. AF-DX 116 exhibited high (M2) affinity binding to left ventricle (Kd = 95.6 nM); in tracheal membranes it bound with high (M2) affinity (Kd = 40.7 nM) to 74% of the receptors and with low (M3) affinity (Kd = 2.26 microM) to 26% of the receptors. It is concluded that bovine tracheal muscle membranes contain a heterogeneous population of muscarine binding sites, the majority having M2 (heart) subtype characteristics and being located on the smooth muscle membranes; a minority having M3 (exocrine gland) subtype characteristics and presumed to be located in submucosal glands. This is the first report of high affinity binding of AF-DX 116 to non-cardiac peripheral muscarine receptors.