Muscles of adult rats and mice express the Thy-1 glycoprotein on denervation.

Adult-skeletal muscles when denervated undergo extensive changes in biochemical and physiological properties. Many of these changes, for example the appearance of acetylcholine receptors along the length of the fibres, are characterized by a reacquisition of features normally found in developing muscles. This generalization can now be extended to the surface glycoprotein, Thy-1, which is expressed in myoblasts and transiently in newly fused myotubes in culture, for we have found that denervation leads to extensive production of Thy-1 in hindlimb muscles of adult rats and mice where its expression is normally very low. In addition, there is a slight transient rise in Thy-1 in muscles contralateral to the denervation.