Microcirculation in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy: another blow to the vascular hypothesis?

摘要

duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating disease caused by a mutation in the gene coding dystrophin. As noted by Bagher et al. in their study published in this issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology (1) and as noted by others (5, 9, 10, 12), the affected protein, dystrophin, is part of a transmem-brane complex that not only provides mechanical stability to the sarcolemma, but also localizes neuronal nitric oxide syn-thase (nNOS), an important regulator of muscle blood flow during exercise, to the cell membrane.