objective(s): occlusal trauma is one of the most common forms of oral biting dysfunction. long-term occlusal trauma could weaken the stomatognathic system; especially damage one’s masticatory muscle. through using the rat model, this study investigated the trophic effect of ciliary neurotrophic factor (cntf) on injured masseter muscle. materials and methods: male wistar rats (n=36) were randoml...

This paper presents evidence that the intermediate filament (IF) subunits of muscle cells (skeletin or desmin) and fibroblastic cells (decamin or vimentin) separately form homopolymer IF in vitro and, when mixed, prefer to form copolymer IF in vitro. Because they coexist in cells, they may also form copolymers in vivo. The IFs of baby hamster kidney fibroblasts (BHK-21) consist of a major subun...

Desminopathies are a largely autosomal dominant group of rare diseases caused by mutations in the desmin gene. Because desmin is the main component of intermediate filaments in cardiac, skeletal, and smooth muscle and of Purkinje fibers, these conditions are characterized by skeletal myopathy and cardiomyopathy (mainly restrictive) with arrhythmias or conduction disorders. The aim of our presen...

BACKGROUND Desmin-related myofibrillar myopathy (DRM) is a cardiac and skeletal muscle disease caused by mutations in the desmin (DES) gene. Mutations in the central 2B domain of DES cause skeletal muscle disease that typically precedes cardiac involvement. However, the prevalence of DES mutations in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) without skeletal muscle disease is not known. METHODS AND RESULT...

BACKGROUND Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, of which approximately 20% of cases are familial (FDCM), is a primary myocardial disorder characterized by ventricular dilatation and impaired systolic function. It is a common cause of heart failure and the need for cardiac transplantation. Although 6 chromosomal loci responsible for autosomal dominant FDCM have been mapped by linkage analysis, non...

The phosphorylation of the subunit proteins of intermediate (10-nm) filaments has been investigated in chicken muscle and nonmuscle cells by using a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis system. Desmin, the 50,000-dalton subunit protein of the intermediate filaments of muscle, had previously been shown to exist as two major isoelectric variants-alpha and beta-in smooth, skeletal, and cardiac chic...

Desmin-related myopathy (DRM) is known to cause different types of cardiomyopathy. Late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has been shown to identify fibrosis in ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathies. We present a rare case of desmin-related hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, CMR revealed fibrosis in the lateral wall of the left ventricle. CMR is superior to conventio...

A hallmark of muscle atrophy is the excessive degradation of myofibrillar proteins primarily by the ubiquitin proteasome system. In mice, during the rapid muscle atrophy induced by fasting, the desmin cytoskeleton and the attached Z-band-bound thin filaments are degraded after ubiquitination by the ubiquitin ligase tripartite motif-containing protein 32 (Trim32). To study the order of events le...

A null mutation was introduced into the mouse desmin gene by homologous recombination. The desmin knockout mice (Des -/-) develop normally and are fertile. However, defects were observed after birth in skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscles (Li, Z., E. Colucci-Guyon, M. Pincon-Raymond, M. Mericskay, S. Pournin, D. Paulin, and C. Babinet. 1996. Dev. Biol. 175:362-366; Milner, D.J., G. Weitzer, D....