Characteristics of acetylcholine-activated channels of innervated and chronically denervated skeletal muscles

Characteristics of the ACh-activated channels before and after denervation of the frog interosseal muscle were studied using the patch clamp technique. Acetylcholine sensitivity was increased on extrajunctional portions of the muscle 7, 42, and 73 days after sectioning of the sciatic nerve. Nonjunctional regions of the innervated muscle appeared to contain one type of ACh channels having a conductance of 28 pS and a mean channel lifetime of 3.8 ms at -90 mV. The denervated muscles contained two classes of channels with conductance of 18 and 28 pS which were present as early as 7 days postdenervation and remained for 93 days. The channel open times of the innervated muscles increased with membrane hyperolarization. The open times of the channels present at 42 days postdenervation showed longer lifetimes than those of innervated muscles and were 10.8 ms and 9.6 ms at -90 mV. These channels also showed less voltage dependence than the control fibers.