Axonal transport of muscarinic cholinergic receptors in rat vagus nerve: high and low affinity agonist receptors move in opposite directions and differ in nucleotide sensitivity.

The presence and transport of muscarinic cholinergic binding sites have been detected in the rat vagus nerve. These binding sites accumulate both proximal and distal to ligatures in a time-dependent manner. The results of double ligature and colchicine experiments are compatible with the notion that the anterogradely transported binding sites move by fast transport. Most of the sites accumulating proximal to ligatures bind the agonist carbachol with high affinity, while most of the sites accumulating distally bind carbachol with a low affinity. Also, the receptors transported in the anterograde direction are affected by a guanine nucleotide analogue (GppNHp), while those transported in the retrograde direction are less, or not, affected. The bulk of the sites along the unligated nerve trunk bind carbachol with a low affinity and are less sensitive to GppNHp modulation than the anterogradely transported sites. These results suggest that some receptors in the vagus may undergo axonal transport in association with regulatory proteins and that receptor molecules undergo changes in their binding and regulatory properties during their life cycle. These data also support the notion that the high and low affinity agonist form of the muscarinic receptor represent different modulated forms of a single receptor molecule.