Book excerpt: Brain Receptor Methodologies, Part A, General Methods and Concepts: Amines and Acetylcholine provides information pertinent to neurotransmitter and neuromodulator receptors in brain. This book explores the methodologies that can used to address several basic and clinical problems. Organized into two sections encompassing 18 chapters, this book starts with an overview of the receptor concept, which can be validated from indirect evidence obtained in studies of the quantitative aspects of drug antagonism. This text then examines the radioligand–receptor binding interactions. Other chapters consider immunocytochemistry, which has a primary role in determining the precise distribution of regulatory peptides to neural and endocrine elements of the diffuse neuroendocrine system. The final chapter discusses the use of the radioligand binding procedure for the study of muscarinic receptors, which has expanded the area of muscarinic receptor pharmacology. Biochemists, pharmacologists, physiologists, and researchers engaged in the fields of neurobiology and neuroscience will find this book extremely useful.