Outline of therapeutic interventions with muscarinic receptor-mediated transmission

Summary Muscarinc receptor-mediated signaling takes part in many physiological functions ranging from complex higher nervous activity to vegetative responses. Specificity of action of the natural muscarinic agonist acetylcholine is effected by action on five muscarinic receptor subtypes with particular tissue and cellular localization, and coupling preference with different G-proteins and their signaling pathways. In addition to physiological roles it is also implicated in pathologic events like promotion of carcinoma cells growth, early pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases in the central nervous system like