schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric illness with a lifetime prevalence of ˜1% that imposes a huge toll on patients, their families and public health services worldwide. delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior and negative symptoms constitute the core symptoms of schizophrenia. although the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a prominent role in t...

The medial septum/diagonal band (MSDB), which gives rise to the septohippocampal pathway, is a critical locus for the mnemonic effects of muscarinic drugs. Infusion of muscarinic cholinergic agonists into the MSDB enhance learning and memory processes both in young and aged rats and produce a continuous theta rhythm in the hippocampus. Intraseptal muscarinic agonists also alleviate the amnesic ...

BACKGROUND Chronic airway diseases, like asthma or COPD, are characterized by excessive acetylcholine release and airway remodeling. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term effect of muscarinic agonists on the phenotype and proliferation of rabbit tracheal airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs). METHODS ASMCs were serum starved before treatment with muscarinic agonists. Cell phenot...

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) (nomenclature as agreed by the NC-IUPHAR Subcommittee on Acetylcholine Receptors [53]) are activated endogenous agonist acetylcholine. All five (M1-M5) mAChRs ubiquitously expressed in human body and therefore attractive targets for many disorders. Functionally, M1, M3, M5 preferentially couple to Gq/11 proteins, whilst M2 M4 predominantly Gi/o protei...

The ability of muscarinic cholinergic agonists to interact with muscarinic receptors in nerve ending preparations and elicit an increased labeling of phosphatidate and phosphatidylinositol from 32Pi has been investigated. Two groups of brain muscarinic agonists are distinguished. Addition of acetylcholine, carbamylcholine, methacholine, or muscarine resulted in a 2-fold stimulation of phosphati...

In brain stem slices from neonatal (postnatal days 0-4) CD-1 mice, muscarinic ACh receptors (MAChRs) increased rhythmic inspiratory-related and tonic hypoglossal nerve discharge and depolarized single hypoglossal motoneurons (HMs) via an inward current without changing input resistance. These responses were blocked by the MAChR antagonist 1,1-dimethyl-4-diphenylacetoxypiperidinium iodide (4-DAM...

The purpose of our studies was to determine the effects of muscarinic receptor agonists on conditioned avoidance responding in the rat. Rats were trained to avoid or escape an electric shock delivered to the feet in a discrete trial procedure. The muscarinic receptor agonists pilocarpine and [2-ethyl-8-methyl-2,8-diazaspiro(4. 5)decane-1,3-dione] hydrochloride (RS86) and the cholinesterase inhi...

We have determined whether the process of agonist-mediated phosphorylation of the muscarinic receptor correlates with the process of muscarinic receptor desensitization in chick cardiac tissue. Exposure of ventricular slices to the agonist carbachol under conditions previously shown to lead to large increases in muscarinic receptor phosphorylation (Kwatra, M. M., and Hosey, M. M. (1986) J. Biol...