We used the electric organ of Torpedo, a modified neuromuscular system, to investigate the direct effects of antipsychotic drugs on cholinergic transmission. All the antipsychotic drugs tested inhibited transmission by decreasing the amount of ACh released by nerve impulses. Their potency for this action was as follows: trifluoperazine less than clozapine less than thiethylperazine less than droperidol less than haloperidol less than chlorpromazine = beta-flupentixol less than alpha-flupentixol. Depression of ACh release by antipsychotics was poorly reversible, and was not mediated by dopamine receptors in this system since neither dopamine nor apomorphine had any effect on transmission. Antipsychotics did not act through presynaptic cholinergic receptors since the effect was not antagonized by atropine or quinuclidinyl benzilate. Trifluoperazine had no effect on the total ACh content of the tissue, on the compartmentation of ACh inside and outside synaptic vesicles, or on the rate of ACh turnover or the accumulation of 45Ca observed after repetitive stimulation. We conclude that antipsychotic drugs depress the neurally evoked release of ACh by acting directly on the releasing mechanism.