The advent of potent, highly selective 5HT3 receptor antagonists has stimulated considerable interest in 5HT3 receptor mediated physiology and pharmacology. To permit detailed biochemical studies regarding interaction of the indazole class of serotonin (5HT) antagonists with 5HT3 receptors in multiple tissues, we synthesized 1-methyl-N-(8-methyl-8-azabicyclo[3.2.1]oct-3-yl)-1H-indazole- 3-carboxamide (LY278584, compound 9) in high specific activity, tritium-labeled form. This radioligand was selected as a synthetic target because of its potency as a 5HT3-receptor antagonist, its selectivity for this receptor viz a viz other 5HT-receptor subtypes, and the ability to readily incorporate three tritia via the indazole N-CH3 substituent. Alkylation of N-(8-methyl-8-azabicyclo[3.2.1]oct-3-yl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide (8) with sodium hydride and tritium-labeled iodomethane, followed by HPLC purification, resulted in [3H]-9 with a radiochemical purity of 99% and a specific activity of 80.5 Ci/mmol. This radioligand bound with high affinity to a single class of saturable recognition sites in membranes isolated from cerebral cortex of rat brain. The Kd was 0.69 nM and the Bmax was 16.9 fmol/mg of protein. The specific binding was excellent, and accounted for 83-93% of total binding at concentrations of 2 nM or less. The potencies of known 5HT3-receptor antagonists as inhibitors of [3H]-9 binding correlated well with their pharmacological receptor affinities as antagonists of 5HT-induced decreases in heart rate and contraction of guinea pig ileum, suggesting the central recognition site for this radioligand may be extremely similar to or identical with peripheral 5HT3 receptors.