The foetus in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: muscle growth in tissue culture.

In tissue culture of muscle from five normal foetuses and four male foetuses at risk for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, no differences were found with regard to the ease with which cultures could be established and maintained, or in gross morphology or rate of growth and differentiation in culture. Yet before culture, muscle histology was clearly abnormal in at least one of the at-risk foetuses. The identification of the particular conditions of culture which prevent the full expression of the dystrophic process might be profitably pursued as a possible first step to finding a treatment.