Regional concentration of putative nicotinic-cholinergic receptor sites in human brain.

Various anatomically distinct regions from postmortem human brain were analyzed for o-bungarotoxin (a-BuTX) binding and choline acetyltransferase activity. There was a heterogeneous distribution of both cr-BuTX and enzyme activity in the regions studied. Although levels of cY-BuTX binding were lower than those reported in other mammalian brain studies, the relative regional concentration was, in general, similar to that of other mammals. High binding activity was noted in the mammillary body, uncus, colliculi. and cortex. Lowest activity was observed in the caudate nucleus and cerebellum. Choline acetyltransferase activities in parallel assays confirmed prior data in human brain.