Soleus muscles of rats were studied up to 16 days after sciatic nerve transection. At the end of this period the denervated soleus muscles exhibited decreased content of diphosphatidylglycerol (-44%), normal level of phosphatidylethanolamine, and increased contents of phosphatidylcholine (+24%), sphingomyelin (+48%), lysophosphatidylcholine (+110%), phosphatidylinositol (+37%), and phosphatidylserine (+40%) per milligram of tissue protein. In studies in vitro, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release and tyrosine release by denervated soleus muscles were 319 and 141%, respectively, greater than those of sham muscles. An almost complete inhibition of PGE2 release with 5 X 10(-4) M aspirin or 2.8 X 10(-6) M indomethacin had no effect on tyrosine release of sham muscles or the stimulated tyrosine release of the denervated muscles. Addition of 5 X 10(-5) M cycloheximide in the medium resulted in 63% inhibition of PGE2 release by both groups of muscles; concomitant absolute increments in tyrosine releases by denervated and sham muscles did not statistically differ. In the presence of both 5 X 10(-5) M cycloheximide and 5 X 10(-4) M aspirin in the medium, PGE2 production by denervated and sham muscles was inhibited 87% while tyrosine release of denervated muscles was 108% higher than that of sham animals. It is concluded that 1) atrophy of denervated soleus muscle is associated with stimulated activity of tissue phospholipase A2, increased production of prostaglandin E2, increased total proteolytic rate, and unchanged rate of protein synthesis; 2) acute inhibition of PGE2 production does not inhibit the stimulated proteolysis in denervated muscle; and 3) cycloheximide inhibits PGE2 production by muscle.