Altered muscle saccharide pattern in X-linked muscular dystrophy
L. Paljarvi, K. Karjalainen and H. Kalimo
Five lectins were used as fluorescence microscopic markers for sugar
residues in skeletal muscle. Biopsy specimens were taken from patients with
X-linked muscular dystrophy (Duchenne's and Becker's), patients with other
neuromuscular diseases, and normal controls. In both the controls and the
pathologic samples, concanavalin A gave a bright fluorescence of the
myofiber surface, whereas soybean agglutinin and Dolichos biflorus
agglutinin fluorescence was negative. Peanut agglutinin and wheat germ
agglutinin were more avidly bound to the sarcolemma and/or endomysial
connective tissue in the patients with X-linked muscular dystrophy than in
the controls or the patients with other conditions. The altered saccharide
pattern may reflect either a myofiber membrane change or a specific
mesenchymal reaction in the dystrophic muscle.
