The present study was designed to characterize the postjunctional muscarinic receptors mediating contraction in rat anococcygeus muscle by means of a series of muscarinic agonists and subtype-preferring key muscarinic antagonists. Cumulative addition of muscarinic agonists elicited concentration-dependent contractions with the following rank order of potency (pD2 values): (+)-muscarine (6.36) > or = oxotremorine M (6.21) > or = arecaidine propargyl ester (APE) (6.18) > carbachol (5.68) = (+/-)-methacholine (5.65) > 4-(4-chlorophenyl-carbamoyloxy)-2-butynyltrimethylammonium chloride (4-Cl-McN-A-343) (4.28) > 4-(3-chlorophenylcarbamoyloxy)-2-butynyltrimethylammonium chloride (McN-A-343) (3.89). (+)-Muscarine, oxotremorine M, carbachol and (+/-)-methacholine behaved as full agonists, whereas APE, 4-Cl-McN-A-343 and McN-A-343 displayed partial agonism. The contractile responses of the rat anococcygeus muscle to (+/-)-methacholine were competitively antagonized by pirenzepine (pA2 = 6.92), 11-[[4-[4-(diethylamino)butyl]-1-piperidinyl]acetyl] 5,11-dihydro-6H-pyrido(2,3-b) (1,4)-benzodiazepine-6-one (AQ-RA 741; pA2 = 6.75), himbacine (pA2 = 7.11), (+/-)-p-fluoro-hexahydro-sila-difenidol (p-F-HHSiD; pA2 = 7.68) and the (R)- and (S)-enantiomers of hexahydro-difenidol [(R)-HHD: pA2 = 8.52; (S)-HHD: pA2 = 6.06]. A comparison of the pA2 values derived from studies of contraction in rat anococcygeus muscle with literature binding (pKi values) and functional affinities (pA2 values) obtained at native M1-M4 receptors strongly suggests that the postjunctional muscarinic receptors mediating contraction in rat anococcygeus muscle are of the M3 subtype.