Synthesis of acetylcholine receptor by denervated rat diaphragm muscle.

Acetylcholine receptor was purified by affinity chromatography from denervated rat hemidiaphragms that had been incubated in organ culture for 24 hr in medium containing [35-S] methionine. Radioactive acetylcholine receptor was identified in purified preparations by zone sedimentation in a sucrose gradient, by isoelectric focusing, and by precipitation with an antiserum to the acetylcholine receptor from electric eel. When innervated and denervated hemidiaphragms were incubated with [35-S] methionine in organ culture, and the acetylcholine receptors from each were purified separately, only the preparation from denervated muscles contained radioactive receptor as determined by zone sedimentation. We conclude that newly synthesized receptor is accumulated as a result of muscle denervation.