N-Methyl-carbamylcholine (also called N-methyl-carbachol) is an analogue of the mixed muscarinic-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, carbachol. Previous studies have provided evidence that radiolabelled N-methyl-carbachol can bind selectively to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in rat brain. To determine whether N-methyl-carbachol acts as an agonist or an antagonist at nicotinic and/or muscarinic receptor sites, the present study examined the pharmacological activity of this compound on some cholinergically innervated tissues. N-Methyl-carbachol, like carbachol, depolarized rat isolated sympathetic ganglia and these effects were inhibited by a nicotinic antagonist, d-tubocurarine, but not by a muscarinic antagonist, atropine. Exposure of rat sympathetic ganglia to N-methyl-carbachol blocked the compound action potential generated in ganglia by stimulation of the pre-ganglionic trunk; this effect of N-methyl-carbachol was likely due to desensitization of the nicotinic response. N-Methyl-carbachol, like carbachol, stimulated the release of [ 3H]noradrenaline from cultured adrenal medullary cells that had been pre-loaded with [ 3H]noradrenaline; these effects were largely inhibited by a nicotinic antagonist, mecamylamine, while atropine produced less blockade. N-Methyl-carbachol contracted the frog isolated rectus abdominis muscle and the effect was completely blocked by d-tubocurarine. By contrast, contracture of the rectus abdominis produced by carbachol was partially inhibited by either atropine or d-tubocurarine. N-Methyl-carbachol, like carbachol, contracted the rat isolated ileum and these effects were completely blocked by atropine; however, N-methyl-carbachol was about 42 times less potent than carbachol for this effect. Intravenous injection of N-methyl-carbachol, like nicotine, to the rat produced a transient decrease followed by a more sustained rise in blood pressure while carbachol produced only a sustained decrease in blood pressure. The effects of N-methyl-carbachol and nicotine on blood pressure were blocked by pretreatment of the animal with a nicotinic antagonist, hexamethonium. N-Methyl-carbachol, like nicotine, stimulated the release of [ 3H]dopamine from rat striatal synaptosomes, pre-loaded with [ 3H]dopamine; release induced by either N-methyl-carbachol or nicotine was inhibited by mecamylamine but not by atropine. In rat cerebral cortical slices pre-loaded with [ 3H]inositol, carbachol, but not N-methyl-carbachol, stimulated the accumulation of [ 3H]inositol-1-phosphate, an effect blocked by atropine but not by mecamylamine. Behavioural effects of intracerebroventricular administration of N-methyl-carbachol to rats included reversible hind-limb splaying, impaired gait, respiratory depression and hypoactivity at early times after drug injection; these effects were blocked by pretreatment of animals with mecamylamine but were unaffected by pretreatment with a muscarinic antagonist, scopolamine. Thus the overall profile of activity indicates that N-methyl-carbachol is a relatively selective agonist acting at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. These results suggest that the structures of muscarinic and nicotinic receptors may differ in the regions which recognize the amino terminal end of compounds such as carbachol or N-methyl-carbachol.