Characterization of a component in chick ciliary ganglia that cross-reacts with monoclonal antibodies to muscle and electric organ acetylcholine receptor.

Chick ciliary ganglion neurons have previously been shown to contain a component that shares an antigenic determinant with the "main immunogenic region" of the alpha-subunit in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor from skeletal muscle and electric organ. Ultrastructural studies of antibody binding in the ganglion have shown that the cross-reacting antigen exposed on the surface of the neurons is located predominantly in synaptic membrane. Here we show that the neuronal antigen can be identified in detergent extracts of ciliary and sympathetic ganglia, but not in extracts of heart, liver, spinal cord, retina, or dorsal root ganglia. In the ciliary ganglion the component is present as an integral membrane constituent, and, when detergent solubilized, it sediments as a 10 S species and binds to concanavalin A. The component is distinct from the alpha-bungarotoxin-binding site on the neurons since toxin-binding sites and antibody-binding sites can be precipitated separately in ganglion extracts. The component reaches peak levels per ganglionic protein between embryonic days 8 and 12. These are some of the properties expected for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor on ciliary ganglion neurons.