Stimulatory effects of drugs for protein synthesis on muscle cell cultures in Duchenne dystrophy.

The influence of the membrane-stabilizing agents diphenylhydantoin (DPH) and orgotein (a drug with superoxide dismutase activity) on protein synthesis was studied in cultured human muscle cells obtained from 7 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and 14 controls. The cultures were obtained by dissociation and subsequent plating of cells from biopsied quadriceps muscle. These cultures were then labeled with tritiated leucine in the presence and absence of the membrane-stabilizing drugs. Total protein synthesis (cpm/mg noncollagen protein) in first-passage muscle cell cultures from DMD patients showed a 35% decrease, but myosin synthesis revealed normal values. DPH and orgotein increased total protein synthesis by 35 and 50%, respectively, in dystrophic cultured cells, but only by 7 and 8%, respectively, in control cultured cells.