Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0026850 (muscular dystrophy)
 5,870 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Skeletal muscles from healthy dogs and Labrador Retrievers with hereditary muscular dystrophy were examined morphologically and histochemically and were analyzed biochemically for Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Cu2+, Cl-, total muscle water, and total neutral lipid content. Flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used for elemental quantitation of hydrochloric acid tissue extracts. Muscle samples from dystrophic dogs contained substantially increased concentrations of Na+, Ca2+, Zn2+, Cu2+, and Cl-, and a considerable reduction in the content of K+ and Mg2+ compared with samples from healthy dogs. Total muscle water and total fat content was higher in muscles from dystrophic dogs. Most muscle samples from dystrophic dogs had a type-2 fiber deficiency and an increase in number of fibers with internalized nuclei.
 ...
PMID:Analysis of muscle elements, water, and total lipids from healthy dogs and Labrador retrievers with hereditary muscular dystrophy. 272 11

In our study, mitochondria were isolated from skeletal muscle in 2-, 3-, 4-, 6-, 8-, and 12-week-old normal (C57BL6j dy/+), and 4-, 8-, and 12-week-old dystrophic (C57BL6j dy/dy) mice and in normal subjects and patients with Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy. A deficit was observed in a calcium-specific mitochondrial protein in the very young control mouse, compared with the adult mouse. In the adult dystrophic mouse this deficit was found in clinically affected hindleg muscles as well as in apparently normal front leg muscles; it was also found in quadriceps muscles from patients with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. It is not observed in normal adult mice or in normal subjects. The body of our results suggests that in the forms of muscular dystrophy studied there would be a maturation defect in this calcium-binding mitochondrial protein ("calmitine"), a defect which might be generalized in the entire skeletal muscle system and conceivably could be the cause of muscle degeneration in certain myopathies such as Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy.
 ...
PMID:Is there a maturation defect related to calcium in muscle mitochondria from dystrophic mice and Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy patients. 273 10

Intracellular free calcium concentration [( Ca2+]i) of human peripheral blood lymphocytes was determined by fluorescence spectroscopic measurements with quin2 in patients with different types of muscular dystrophy and in controls. The [Ca2+]i level in lymphocytes showed a significant increase in adult type (facioscapulohumeral and limb-girdle) muscular dystrophies, while it showed a decrease in Duchenne dystrophy as compared to the values of age- and sex-matched controls. The data obtained suggest an alteration in the effectiveness of the calcium pump in lymphocytes and may represent a sign of generalized membrane damage in these hereditary muscle diseases.
 ...
PMID:Intracellular free calcium concentration in lymphocytes of patients with muscular dystrophies. 275 35

Inhibition of the enzyme, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), at the neuromuscular junction by pyridostigmine (PYR) results in breakdown of the postjunctional folds and dissolution of the Z-discs. It is hypothesized that excess activation of the acetylcholine (ACh) receptors by unhydrolyzed ACh results in a large influx of calcium ions. This could possibly lead to the activation of calcium-dependent proteases, resulting in the observed myopathy. Pretreatment with the calcium channel blocker, diltiazem, followed by administration of both PYR and the calcium blocker resulted in a significant reduction in the extent of muscle damage due to PYR alone. In order to ascertain whether the calcium blocker could reverse the myopathy previously induced by PYR, the AChE inhibitor was administered first, resulting in significant muscle damage, followed the next day by diltiazem. After 7 days of diltiazem treatment, with continued administration of PYR, the calcium blocker significantly reduced the myopathy at the neuromuscular junction. The results are discussed in terms of possible clinical application of diltiazem in neuromuscular diseases (i.e. muscular dystrophy).
 ...
PMID:Calcium channel blocker reverses anticholinesterase-induced myopathy. 279 Apr 49

The number of putative calcium channels in cardiac muscle from young adult hamsters (60 days old) was compared in normal (F1B) hamsters and two different mutant strains (CHF 146 and Bio 14.6) which express cardiomyopathy and muscular dystrophy. Equilibrium binding assays of high affinity sites for [3H]-nitrendipine in ventricular homogenate preparations showed that the maximum number of [3H]-nitrendipine binding sites (Bmax), which corresponds to the number of putative calcium channels, was not significantly different in normal and cardiomyopathic hearts: 79(SEM 9), 64(14) and 69(10) fmol.mg-1 protein in 4-6 hearts from F1B, Bio 14.6 and CHF 146 hamster strains, respectively. Similar results were obtained with binding data after partial purification of the preparation. These data are in agreement with earlier studies comparing two normal strains (CHF 148 and random bred Syrian hamsters) with cardiomyopathic (CHF 146) hamsters, and conflict with other studies comparing normal and cardiomyopathic hamsters. Comparisons with the conflicting data suggest (a) that change in the number of high affinity [3H]-nitrendipine binding sites is not responsible for calcium overload and cell necrosis in cardiomyopathy, and (b) that increased numbers of low affinity [3H]-nitrendipine binding sites may emerge in cardiomyopathic hearts.
 ...
PMID:[3H]-nitrendipine binding sites in normal and cardiomyopathic hamsters: absence of a selective increase in putative calcium channels in cardiomyopathic hearts. 285 22

Clinical uses of calcium channel blockers are expanding. In addition to the established uses in patients with arrhythmias, angina pectoris or hypertension, newer and to some extent investigational uses indicate widespread application. For instance, their use has been reported in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and cold cardioplegia, as well as in pulmonary hypertension, antiplatelet therapy, asthma, achalasia and oesophageal spasm, increased intraocular pressure and in cerebral vasospasm. Their use in obstetrical practice has been proposed. Thus, the presentation of a patient who is treated with calcium channel blockers and who requires anaesthesia will become more common. Calcium channel blockers may, under certain circumstances, potentiate haemodynamic and MAC depressive effects of inhalation agents. There is also evidence that the effects of neuromuscular blocking agents may be potentiated. The anaesthetist should be aware that the potential for interactions exists with digoxin, propranolol, quinidine, theophylline or dantrolene. Of interest and some significance are the anaesthetic implications of pathophysiological alterations that can be induced by calcium channel blockers, by affecting lower oesophageal tone, intracranial hypertension, bronchomotor tone (asthma), muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular function, hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, malignant hyperthermia, inhibition of platelet aggregation and hyperkalemia. Despite these significant potential anaesthetic implications and because, at this time, in some instances withdrawal has clearly demonstrated increase in the signs of myocardial ischaemia, it would not seem necessary to recommend preoperative discontinuation of calcium channel blocker medication in patients presenting for anaesthesia. It is, however, appropriate that there is a high index of awareness of potential problems, unless there is some modification in inhalation anaesthetic concentrations and neuromuscular blocker dosage. Monitoring of cardiovascular and neuromuscular functions is essential. Calcium channel blockers would appear to be currently the drugs of choice for angina pectoris, arrhythmias or hypertension in patients with associated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
 ...
PMID:Anaesthetic implications of calcium channel blockers. 286 80

Electrocardiographic (EKG) changes were investigated in 7-month-old dystrophic hamsters (DH) with cardiomyopathy and were correlated with biochemical and histologic aberrations. Abnormally tall R-I and R-aVL amplitudes, deep S-III and S-aVR waves, and elongated PR-I, QT-I, and QRS-I intervals (all at P less than 0.0001) were noted in DH compared with normal hamsters. These EKG changes are similar to those seen in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and support cardiac hypertrophy (P less than 0.001) in DH. Excessive intracellular calcium accumulation in the heart (P less than 0.0001), diaphragm (P less than 0.001), and rectus femoris (P less than 0.05), and elevated plasma creatine kinase concentrations (P less than 0.001) were also noted in DH. Histopathology in the cardiac and skeletal muscles of DH included fatty infiltration, centronucleation, and sporadic necrosis with calcium deposition. Observed EKG abnormalities, biochemical alterations, and histological aberrations in the cardiac and skeletal muscles of DH are strikingly similar to those reported in DMD and thus substantiate the relevance of DH as a suitable model for the study of muscular dystrophy and cardiac hypertrophy.
 ...
PMID:Electrocardiographic, biochemical, and morphologic abnormalities in dystrophic hamsters with cardiomyopathy. 295 Mar 21

Ca2+-uptake activities of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) were determined with a Ca2+-sensitive electrode in homogenates from fast- and slow-twitch muscles from both normal and dystrophic mice (C57BL/6J strain) of different ages. Immunochemical quantification of tissue Ca2+-ATPase content allowed determination of the specific Ca2+-transport activity of the enzyme. In 3-week-old mice of the dystrophic strain specific Ca2+ transport was already significantly lower than in the normal strain. It progressively decreased with maturation and reached only 40-50% and 30-50% of the normal values in fast- and slow-twitch muscles of adult dystrophic animals, respectively. Tissue contents of calsequestrin were reduced in both types of muscle leading to an increased Ca2+-ATPase to calsequestrin protein ratio. Equal amounts of the Ca2+-ATPase protein (detected by Coomassie blue staining of polyacrylamide gels) were present in SR vesicles isolated by Ca2+-oxalate loading from adult normal and dystrophic fast-twitch muscles. However, the specific ATP-hydrolysing activity of the enzyme was approximately 50% lower in dystrophic than in normal SR. The reduced ATP-hydrolysing activity was correlated with decreased Ca2+-transport activity, phosphoprotein formation and fluorescein isothiocyanate labeling as determined in total microsomal and heavy SR fractions. Although the Ca2+ and ATP affinities of the enzyme were unaltered, its ATPase activity was reduced at all levels of ATP in the dystrophic SR. Taken together, these findings point to a markedly impaired function of the SR and an increase in the population of inactive SR Ca2+-ATPase molecules in murine muscular dystrophy.
 ...
PMID:Postnatal development of Ca2+-sequestration by the sarcoplasmic reticulum of fast and slow muscles in normal and dystrophic mice. 296 44

A skeletal muscle membrane fraction enriched in sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) contained Ca2+-ATPase activity which was stimulated in vitro in normal chickens (line 412) by 6 nM purified bovine calmodulin (33% increase over control, P less than 0.001). In contrast, striated muscle from chickens (line 413) affected with an inherited form of muscular dystrophy, but otherwise genetically similar to line 412, contained SR-enriched Ca2+-ATPase activity which was resistant to stimulation in vitro by calmodulin. Basal levels of Ca2+-ATPase activity (no added calmodulin) were comparable in muscles of unaffected and affected animals, and the Ca2+ optima of the enzymes in normal and dystrophic muscle were identical. Purified SR vesicles, obtained by calcium phosphate loading and sucrose density gradient centrifugation, showed the same resistance of dystrophic Ca2+-ATPase to exogenous calmodulin as the SR-enriched muscle membrane fraction. Dystrophic muscle had increased Ca2+ content compared to that of normal animals (P less than 0.04) and has been previously shown to contain increased levels of immuno- and bioactive calmodulin and of calmodulin mRNA. The calmodulin resistance of the Ca2+-ATPase in dystrophic muscle reflects a defect in regulation of cell Ca2+ metabolism associated with elevated cellular Ca2+ and calmodulin concentrations.
 ...
PMID:Abnormal response to calmodulin in vitro of dystrophic chicken muscle membrane Ca2+-ATPase activity. 297 24

The complete 897-amino-acid sequence of chicken skeletal muscle alpha-actinin and the 856-amino-acid sequence (97% of the entire sequence) of chicken fibroblast alpha-actinin have been determined by cloning and sequencing the cDNAs. Genomic Southern analysis with the cDNA sequences shows that skeletal and fibroblast alpha-actinins are encoded by separate single-copy genes. RNA blot analyzes show that the skeletal alpha-actinin gene is expressed in the pectoralis muscle and that the fibroblast gene is expressed in the gizzard smooth muscle as well as in the fibroblast. The deduced skeletal alpha-actinin molecule has a calculated Mr of 104 x 10(3), and each alpha-actinin can be divided into three domains: (1) the NH2-terminal highly conserved actin-binding domain, which shows similarity to the product of the Duchenne's muscular dystrophy locus; (2) the middle rod-shaped dimer-forming domain, which contains the spectrin-type repeat units; and (3) the COOH-terminal two EF-hand consensus regions. Comparison of the skeletal alpha-actinin sequence with the fibroblast and smooth muscle alpha-actinin sequences demonstrated that the EF-hand structure was conserved in all of these alpha-actinin sequences, despite the reported variability of the Ca2+ sensitivities of the actin-gelation by various alpha-actinin isoforms.
 ...
PMID:Primary structure of chicken skeletal muscle and fibroblast alpha-actinins deduced from cDNA sequences. 319 25


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>