Fluorescent probe analysis of muscle plasmalemma in Duchenne's progressive muscular dystrophy.

The relationship between fluorescence intensity and binding of 1-anilino-naphthalene-8-sulphonate (ANS) to muscle plasmalemma in patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DD) and controls was studied. The fluorescence of ANS was markedly enhanced in DD as compared with controls. The magnitude of this enhancement was increased by monovalent and divalent cations; treatment of DD plasmalemma with trypsin caused an opposite effect. Treatment with phospholipase A and C altered the ANS fluorescence in DD and controls equally. These findings may indicate an increase of the hydrophobic character in the apolar-polar interface of DD plasmalemma. The relationship of these changes to a lack of dystrophin in DD remains to be established.