1. A linear relation, with a slope of 0-9 +/- 0-2 on a log-log plot, was obtained between acetylcholine (ACh) sensitivity and alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-BTX) binding site density in developing L6 and rat primary myotubes. ACh sensitivity was defined as g/Qn where g is conductance, Q is ACh charge and n is the Hill coefficient. Experimentally we found n approximately 1-7 for our myotubes, which is similar in value to that reported for adult systems. 2. The linear relationship is compatible with an organization whereby each ion channel is always complexed with a fixed number of ACh receptors such that the dose-response characteristics of each such complex are independent of average ACh receptor density. 3. Light microscope autoradiography showed that the alpha-bungarotoxin binding sites on L6 myotubes are uniformly distributed over the surface, while primary rat myotubes exhibit gradients and hot spots. Electron microscope autoradiography indicated that about 70% of the [125I]alpha-bungarotoxin label was on the surface of the myotubes. The alpha-bungarotoxin site density, after subtracting myoblast background, varied from 5 to 400 sites/micrometer2 on different L6 myotubes, and from 54 to 900 sites/micrometer2 on primary rat myotubes, with occasional hot spots of 3000-4000 sites/micrometer2. The conductance sensitivities varied from 10(-4) to 2 X 10(-2) Momega-1/nC1-7.