Anticholinergic behavioral effect of phencyclidine.

Phencyclidine (PCP) impaired spatial alternation performance in rats. This effects was mimicked by antimuscarinic anticholinergics (scopolamine, atropine) and PCP derivatives (ketamine, cyclohexamine) but not by a variety of other agents. Muscarinic cholinergic agonists antagonized PCP. Impairment of spatial alteration performance by PCP appears to be mediated, at least in part, by and anticholinergic action; this is the first instance of a behavioral effect of PCP that can be largely attributed to a specific mechanism.