The binding of N-methylscopolamine (NMS) and carbachol to muscarinic receptors in the rat heart has been measured as a function of ionic strength (mu). The binding of NMS was reduced by 3.69 fold for a 10 fold increase in ionic strength. The binding of carbachol was affected in two ways. Firstly, the proportions of the subsites were changed. Above mu = 0.5 M, the superhigh (SH) subsite was converted into the low (L) subsite and above mu = 0.8 M, the high (H) subsite was also converted into the L subsite. Therefore, at high ionic strength, no agonist-determined subsites can be detected. In addition, increase in ionic strength reduced the binding of carbachol to all subsites and to a much greater extent than for NMS.