Loss of electrical anisotropy is an unrecognized feature of dystrophic muscle that may serve as a convenient index of disease status.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

We sought to understand the alteration in the anisotropic, or direction dependent, character of muscle as measured by electrical impedance myography (EIM) in subjects with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and its potential to serve as a biomarker of disease status.

METHODS:

Thirty-six boys with DMD and 27 healthy controls were measured with EIM, with electrical current applied both parallel and perpendicular to the major muscle fiber direction. In addition, muscle extracted from 10 mdx and 10 wild-type mice were measured analogously.

RESULTS:

Normalized reactance anisotropy, a direction-dependent measure of membrane charge storage capability, was significantly lower in the four muscles of DMD subjects as compared to controls (p<0.01). Normalized reactance anisotropy also decreased with increasing age in DMD subjects (r=-0.36, p=0.031), but not in healthy boys. Analogous changes were observed in mdx mouse gastrocnemius as compared to wild type (p=0.019).

CONCLUSION:

These results support that loss of electrical anisotropy is a previously unrecognized feature of dystrophic muscle.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Anisotropic alterations may offer novel indices to assist in neuromuscular disease diagnosis and to serve as easy-to-obtain biomarkers in clinical therapeutic trials.

• Authors: Seward B Rutkove, Jim S Wu, Craig Zaidman, Kush Kapur, Sung Yim, Amy Pasternak, Lavanya Madabusi, Heather Szelag, Tim Harrington, Jia Li, Adam Pacheck, Basil T Darras
• Journal: Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (Clin Neurophysiol) Vol. 127 Issue 12 Pg. 3546-3551 (Dec 2016) ISSN: 1872-8952 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 27825055 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Adolescent
• Animals
• Anisotropy
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Disease Progression
• Humans
• Male
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred C57BL
• Mice, Inbred mdx
• Muscle, Skeletal (physiopathology)
• Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne (diagnosis, genetics, physiopathology)