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Ultrastructural demonstration and analytical application of extrajunctional receptors of denervated human and rat skeletal muscle fibres

Nature volume 255, pages 730–731 (1975)Cite this article

Abstract

WE describe a new approach for distinguishing denervated from normal skeletal muscle fibres, based on the visualisation of differences in distribution of acetylcholine (ACh) receptors in the sarcolemma. Iontophoretic application of ACh1,2 and autoradiography with labelled α-bungarotoxin (αBuTX)3,4 have shown that after denervation (and before innervation5) ACh receptors appear throughout the sarcolemmal membrane, in contrast to their normal location in the neuromuscular junction. Using an immunopeiroxidase staining technique6,7 to localise αBuTX, which binds specifically to ACh receptors3,4,8, we now have a rapid and convenient method for high resolution, at light and electron microscopic levels, of the ACh receptors present throughout the sarcolemmal membrane of defectively innervated human and rat skeletal muscle fibres. We have used this immunoperoxidase method of molecular probing to analyse muscle biopsies in various human neuromuscular diseases and animal models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014

    S. P. RINGEL, A. N. BENDER, B. W. FESTOFF & W. K. ENGEL

  2. Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics, National Heart and Lung Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014

    Z. VOGEL & M. P. DANIELS

Authors
  1. S. P. RINGEL
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  2. A. N. BENDER
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  3. B. W. FESTOFF
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  4. W. K. ENGEL
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  5. Z. VOGEL
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  6. M. P. DANIELS
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RINGEL, S., BENDER, A., FESTOFF, B. et al. Ultrastructural demonstration and analytical application of extrajunctional receptors of denervated human and rat skeletal muscle fibres. Nature 255, 730–731 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/255730a0

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