Cholinergic drugs are often used to help correct neurologic pathologic processes. Briefly describe where a cholinergic drug acts and how it affects the postsynaptic receptors. Give two examples of its possible effects on function.

Cholinergic medications are drugs that “act upon the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, the primary neurotransmitter within the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS)” (Pakala Brown & Preuss 2021). These kinds of medications fall into two different categories direct acting in indirect-acting cholinergic drugs. Direct-acting cholinergic drugs work by binding to and activating the muscarinic receptors (Pakala Brown & Preuss 2021). At the same time, indirect cholinergic drugs increase the availability of acetylcholine at the cholinergic receptors (Pakala Brown & Preuss 2021). One example of the cholinergic drug effect is in ophthalmology, where Carbachol induces miosis to reduce intraocular pressure in the treatment of glaucoma (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2021). Carbachol mimics the effect of acetylcholine on both the muscarinic and nicotinic receptors (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2021). Another example of a cholinergic drug is Bethanechol, which is used in urology cases. Bethanechol is used to treat non-obstructive urinary retention (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2021). The drug is a muscarinic agonist with no nicotinic effects (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2021).