The current study was undertaken to characterize the effects of oral administration of tolterodine on muscarinic receptor binding in the bladder and submaxillary gland and on salivation in mice. In the in vitro experiment, tolterodine and its metabolite (5-hydroxymethyl metabolite: 5-HM) competed concentration-dependently with [N-methyl-(3)H]-scopolamine ([(3)H]NMS) in the mouse bladder, submaxillary gland and heart, and the potencies of both agents were greater than that of oxybutynin. After oral administration of tolterodine (6.31, 21.0 micromol/kg) and oxybutynin (76.1 micromol/kg), there was a dose and time-dependent increase in K(d) values for specific [(3)H]NMS binding in the bladder, prostate, submaxillary gland, heart, colon and lung, compared with control values, suggesting significant muscarinic receptor binding in each tissue. The K(d) increase in each tissue by oral oxybutynin reached a maximum value of 0.5 h after oral administration and then rapidly declined, while that by tolterodine was greatest 2 h after the administration and it was maintained for at least 6 or 12 h, depending on the dose and on the tissue. Thus, muscarinic receptor binding of oral tolterodine was slower in onset and of a longer duration than that of oxybutynin. Also, oral oxybutynin showed relatively greater receptor binding in the submaxillary gland as compared with other tissues, but such high selectivity to the exocrine gland muscarinic receptors was not observed by oral tolterodine. Oral administration of tolterodine and oxybutynin reduced significantly the pilocarpine-induced salivary secretion in mice, and the attenuation of oral tolterodine appeared more slowly and it was more persistent than that of oral oxybutynin. The antagonistic effect of oral tolterodine on the dose-response curves to pilocarpine was significantly weaker than that of oxybutynin. These data suggest that oral tolterodine, compared with the case of oral oxybutynin, binds more selectively to muscarinic receptors in the mouse bladder than in the submaxillary gland, which may be advantageous in treating patients with overactive bladder.