PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Andreose, JS AU - Xu, R AU - Lomo, T AU - Salpeter, MM AU - Fumagalli, G TI - Degradation of two AChR populations at rat neuromuscular junctions: regulation in vivo by electrical stimulation AID - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.13-08-03433.1993 DP - 1993 Aug 01 TA - The Journal of Neuroscience PG - 3433--3438 VI - 13 IP - 8 4099 - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/13/8/3433.short 4100 - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/13/8/3433.full SO - J. Neurosci.1993 Aug 01; 13 AB - The effect of electrical stimulation on the stability of junctional ACh receptors (AChR) on soleus muscles of Wistar rats was compared to that of denervation and reinnervation. Denervation causes the degradation rate of the slowly degrading AChRs (Rs) at the neuromuscular junction to accelerate and be replaced by rapidly degrading AChRs (Rr), while reinnervation restabilizes the accelerated Rs. Electrical stimulation initiated at the time of denervation prevented the acceleration of the Rs. It could not, however, reverse the effect of denervation if initiated after the AChRs became destabilized, nor could it slow the degradation rate of the Rr. We conclude that electrical stimulation of denervated muscle downregulates the expression of the Rr and prevents the destabilization of Rs.