Retrograde effect of muscle on forms of acetylcholinesterase in peripheral nerves.

In the peripheral nerves of birds and mammals, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) exists in four main molecular forms (G1, G2, G4, and A12). The two heaviest forms (G4 and A12) are carried by rapid axoplasmic transport, whereas the two lightest forms (G1 and G2) are probably much more slowly transported. Here we report that nerves innervating fast-twitch (F nerves) and slow-twitch (S nerves) muscles of the rabbit differ both in their AChE molecular form patterns and in their anterograde and retrograde axonal transport parameters. Since we had previously shown a selective regulation of this enzyme in fast and slow parts of rabbit semimembranosus muscle, we wondered whether the differences observed in the nerve could be affected by the twitch properties of muscle. The results reported here show that in F nerves that reinnervate slow-twitch muscles, both the AChE molecular form patterns and axonal transport parameters turn into those of the S nerve. These data suggest the existence of a retrograde specific effect exerted by the muscles on their respective motoneurons.