Cell membranes, carrying neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels, can be ‘microtransplanted’
into frog oocytes. This technique allows a direct functional characterization of the
originalmembrane proteins, togetherwith any associated molecules theymay have, still embedded
in their natural lipid environment. This approach has been previously demonstrated to be very
useful to study neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels contained in cellmembranes isolated
from human brains.Here, we examined the possibility of using themicrotransplantation method
to study acetylcholine receptors from normal and denervated rat skeletal muscles.We found that
the muscle membranes, carrying their fetal or adult acetylcholine receptor isoforms, could be
efficiently microtransplanted to the oocyte membrane, making the oocytes become sensitive to
acetylcholine. These results show that oocytes injected with skeletalmuscle membranes efficiently
incorporate functional acetylcholine receptors, thus making the microtransplantation approach
a valuable tool to further investigate receptors and ion channels of human muscle diseases.
