The effect of denervation and denervation combined with immobilisation in either the shortened or lengthened position (passive stretch) upon myosin heavy chain (MyHC) mRNA levels was examined in three rat hind-limb muscles with differing phenotypes. Denervation alone caused a reduction in type I and type IIa MyHC transcripts in all three muscles. In contrast denervation caused a 72% increase in type IIb in the slow postural soleus muscle only which was prevented by immobilisation in the lengthened position. In the same muscle passive stretch also significantly retarded the effects of denervation upon the type I transcript (from 38% below control levels to 24% below) and type IIa transcript (from 59% to 32% below control levels). The levels of both type I and IIa transcripts, in the fast phasic plantaris muscle, were both unaffected by stretch combined with denervation when compared to denervation alone. In the mixed gastrocnemius muscle stretch affected the level of the type I but not the type IIa transcript. These data suggest that passive stretch can modulate MyHC gene expression independently of innervation but that it does so in a muscle-specific manner.