Elevation of the level of thiobarbituric acid-reactive products in hindleg skeletal muscle of dystrophic mice, but non-elevation in tongue muscle.

In order to understand the pathogenesis of mouse muscular dystrophy, we investigated the levels of the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), H2O2 and NADPH oxidase activity, which were relative to the acceleration of oxidative conditions, in tongue and hindleg skeletal muscles from C57BL/6J-dy mice. The TBARS content (702 nmol/g protein) in skeletal muscles from 2-months-old dystrophic mice was increased significantly over that (384 nmol/g protein) in muscles from age-matched normal mice. The H2O2 concentration in dystrophic skeletal muscles was 30% higher than that in normal ones. Microsomal NADPH oxidase activity which was related to the production of superoxide anions, was similar between dystrophic muscles (4.66 nmol/10 min/mg protein) and normal muscles (4.11 nmol/10 min/mg protein). These results indicate that oxidation is accelerated in the dystrophic muscles. However, the TBARS content in the tongues of dystrophic mice was identical to that of normal mice. This finding supports our bone-muscle growth imbalance hypothesis for the pathogenesis of mouse muscular dystrophy.