Tissue-specific regulation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor expression during embryonic development.

We used solution hybridization, immunoprecipitation, and immunoblot analyses to examine the developmental expression of chicken m2 (cm2), cm3, and cm4 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) mRNA and protein in embryonic and post-hatched chick heart and retina in order to correlate developmental expression patterns with known physiological events. cm2 is the predominant mAChR subtype expressed in chick heart. cm3 and cm4 protein and mRNA expression is very low in chick heart, and cm3 expression is highest early in development. The decrease in cm3 expression correlates well with the developmental decrease in mAChR-mediated activation of phospholipase C. cm4 is the predominant mAChR subtype expressed in chick retina. The expression of both cm4 protein and mRNA is highest early in development and decreases as development progresses. cm2 and cm3 mAChR are expressed at approximately equivalent levels and have similar patterns of expression. The cm2 and cm3 protein levels increase throughout development, while cm2 and cm3 mRNA levels peak at embryonic day 15 and then decrease after hatching. Our data indicate that the three mAChR subtypes are differentially regulated in chick heart and retina and that the patterns of expression of mAChR may be important in the development and physiology of these tissues.