Cyclic neucleotides in progressive muscular dystrophy.

The authors radioimmunoassayed cyclic nucleotide concentrations in plasma and biopsied muscles of muscular dystrophy and muscles of chicken embryo. c-AMP concentrations in plasma were significantly lowered in Duchenne-type muscular dystrophy and this lowered degree was correlated with the stage of progression. Plasma c-GMP levels were also depressed in Duchenne-type dystrophy. In biopsied muscles, c-AMP concentrations per milligram of non-collagen protein were within normal limits. Therefore, the decrease of plasma c-AMP concentrations might be an expression of total metabolic changes rather than a pathologic process of the muscle itself. As for the dystrophic chicken embryo, both c-AMP and GMP concentrations were decreasing in the pectoral muscles in parallel with the advancement of hatching stages.