We have studied changes on endogenous acetylcholine (ACh) release evoked by different agents from rat neostriatal slices after quinolinic acid (QA) injections. QA lesions induced a biphasic decrease on ACh release evoked by 1 muM glutamate and 50 mM KCl. ACh release evoked by selective tachykinin agonists was only significantly decreased by 250 nmol QA. These results suggest the presence of different functional cholinergic cell populations, with tachykinin-responsive cholinergic neurons selectively spared.