Patch-clamp techniques were used to record acetylcholine- (ACh) activated single-channel currents in cell-attached membrane patches from myotubes of the mouse cell line, C2. The effects of the phenothiazine derivative chlorpromazine (CPZ) and of the hallucinogen phencyclidine (PCP) on ACh-activated single-channel properties were studied under conditions where both compounds are positively charged (pH 7.2). The single-channel conductance was unaffected by either CPZ or PCP at concentrations ranging from 10 to 500 nM. 10-200 nM-CPZ and PCP led to shortened mean burst times. CPZ and PCP effects on mean burst times were voltage independent and did not vary in a simple linear manner with concentration. 10-200 nM-CPZ and PCP did not reduce channel opening frequencies, suggesting that the fraction of non-conducting state (occupied, blocked or desensitized) favoured at equilibrium was not significant at these concentrations. On the other hand, concentrations of CPZ and PCP higher than 300 nM did lead to depressed channel opening frequencies. In addition, we observed that, at these concentrations, the shortened burst duration reverses to the longer values found at lower effector concentrations. The effects of CPZ and PCP on ACh-activated single-channel kinetics are interpreted in terms of current models of ACh-receptor structure and conformational transitions.