The distribution of acetylcholine sensitivity at the post-synaptic membrane of vertebrate skeletal twitch muscles: iontophoretic mapping in the micron range.

1. The distribution of acetylcholine (ACh) sensitivity was mapped in skeletal twitch muscles of the snake, frog and mudpuppy with iontophoretic methods that provide a resolution in the mum range. 2. The preparations were thin sheets of muscle fibres that were viewed with Nomarski optics, giving sharp definition of cellular detail. The muscles in the snake were especially suitable. Their motor nerves terminate in a compact cluster of synaptic boutons that rest in distinct craters on the muscle surface. After treatment with collagenase the motor nerve and its terminal boutons can be removed, exposing the subsynaptic membrane in the craters. 3. The slopes of dose-response curves obtained by iontophoretic application of ACh were expressed in mV/nC and used as an index of ACh sensitivity. The areas of highest sensitivity, tested either with the terminals in place or removed, were those immediately under the presynaptic terminals. The greatest subsynaptic sensitivities were about 5000 mV/nC, and the time course of the potentials caused by ACh released iontophoretically closely matched that of synaptic potentials set up by ACh released by the nerve. 4. The sensitivity of the extrasynaptic surface less than 2 mum away was at least 50 times lower than that of the subsynaptic membrane. The low extrasynaptic sensitivity declined still further at greater distances. 5. Acetylcholinesterase was shown physiologically to be confined to subsynaptic areas. No activity of the enzyme was detected in extrasynaptic areas beyond about 2 mum from the edge of the synapse. 6. The confinement of high densities of receptors and of acetylcholinesterase to the subsynaptic membrane in muscles is also a feature in parasympathetic neurones. It is suggested that similar specialization may be a widespread property of neurones with chemical synapses.