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| Author(s): |
Cintia Yuri Matsumura
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia |
| Defense date: | 2012-07-30 |
| Examining board members: |
Maria Julia Marques;
Anselmo Sigari Moriscot;
Cristina Guatimosim Fonseca;
Marcondes Cavalcante Franca Junior;
Rosely Oliveira Godinho
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| Advisor: | Maria Julia Marques |
| Abstract | |
In Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and in the mdx mice model of DMD, the lack of dystrophin leads to muscle degeneration. The pathogenesis of DMD is related to sarcolemmal fragility, mechanical stress and increased influx of calcium in muscle fibers, due to dysfunction of ion channels, such as the stretch-activated calcium channels. The knowledge of the proteins related to muscle degeneration/regeneration and to the protection against myonecrosis is essential to better characterize the muscular dystrophy and to establish new diagnostic tools, in addition to new preventive or therapeutic treatments. In the present study, we addressed new mechanisms of muscle protection by focusing on two main objectives. First, to identify proteins related to the protection agaisnt myonecrosis and to muscle degeneration/regeneration by performing a comparative proteomic study of spared and affected muscles of mdx and control mice. Second, to verify the involvement of stretch-activated calcium channels in dystrophic muscle degeneration by performing a drug therapy with a stretch-activated calcium channels blocker, streptomycin, in muscles that are differently affected by the lack of dystrophin, in the exercised-mdx mice. Furthermore, we were interested to see whether the stretch-activated calcium channels blocker would have additional effects on sarcolemal stability and on calcium buffering and signaling, as previously reported for other calcium channels blockers. The proteomic study suggests that constitutive differences among spared and affected dystrophic muscles are essential for muscle protection agaisnt myonecrosis, allowing a better calcium homeostasis and response to oxidative and mechanical stress. Galectin-1, annexin A1 and the protein interacting with Reticulon-4 are potencial biomarkers for muscular dystrophy, due to their involvement in different cellular processes. The drug therapy study shows that stretch-activated calcium channels participates in dystrophic muscle degeneration, showing higher levels in the mostly affected muscle, the diaphragm. Streptomycin protects the dystrophic muscles against myonecrosis, but has no further effects on other mechanisms of dystrophic muscle protection, i.e., did not improve the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (assayed by beta-dystroglycan and alpha-syntrofin levels), nor calcium binding protein (assayed by calsequestrin and calmodulin levels). Overall, the present study opens new perspectives for the development of drug therapies to dystrophinopathies by suggesting potential new molecular markers of dystrophy (proteomic study) and by suggesting new mechanistic views to explain the differences in the response of dystrophic muscles to the lack of dystrophin (drug therapy) (AU) | |