Degradation of junctional and extrajunctional acetylcholine receptors by developing rat skeletal muscle.

Abstract
The rate of degradation of the total acetylcholine receptor content of diaphragm muscles of young rats was studied. Even in muscles from 1 day old rats, some receptors are metabolically more stable than adult extrajunctional receptors. Acetylcholine receptors at junctional regions from young rats are degraded slowly, whereas those in extrajunctional regions are degraded rapidly. Junctional acetylcholine receptors in rat diaphragm are degraded at a slow rate characteristic of adult junctional receptors at all ages after birth.