The present study investigated the effects of acute (1 week) and chronic (8 months) quisqualic (quis) and ibotenic (ibo) acid nucleus basalis (NB) lesions on the biochemical activity of the NB cholinergic system (choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity) and on neocortical EEG activity. Cortical ChAT activity of quis or ibo NB-lesioned rats did not recover during an 8-month period. Acute and chronic quis and ibo NB lesions increased EEG slow waves and high voltage spindles. Tacridine, an anticholinesterase, dose-dependently suppressed acute and chronic quis and ibo NB lesion-induced EEG changes. The present results suggest that NB cholinergic neurons do not recover after excitotoxin-induced damage during an 8-month period and that cholinergic neuron loss is importantly involved in the acute and chronic lesion-induced EEG changes.