Talin, vinculin and nestin expression in orofacial muscles of dystrophin deficient mdx mice.
The activity of cytoskeletal proteins like talin, vinculin and nestin increases in muscle that regenerates. Little is known about their role or at least their expression in the process of regeneration in masticatory muscles of mdx mice, a model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. To determine a potential role of cytoskeletal proteins in the regeneration process of mdx masticatory muscles, we examined the expression of talin 1, talin 2, vinculin and nestin in 100-day-old control and mdx mice using quantitative RT-PCR, Western blot analyses and histochemistry. The protein expression of talin 1, talin 2, nestin and vinculin in mdx muscles remained unchanged as compared with normal mice. However, in mdx masseter it was found a relative increase of nestin compared to controls. The protein expression of talin 1 and vinculin tended to be increased in mdx tongue and talin 2 to diminish in mdx masseter and temporal muscle. In mdx mice, we found significantly lower percentage of transcripts coding for nestin, talin 1, talin 2 and vinculin in masseter (p < 0.05) and temporal muscle (p < 0.001). In contrast, the mRNA expression of nestin was found to be increased in mdx tongue. Activated satellite cells, myoblasts and immature regenerated muscle fibres in mdx masseter and temporal revealed positive staining for nestin. The findings of the presented work suggest dystrophin-lack-associated changes in the expression of cytoskeletal proteins in mdx masticatory muscles could be compensatory for dystrophin absence. The expression of nestin may serve as an indicator for the regeneration in the orofacial muscles.
Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Greifswald, Rotgerberstr. 8, 17489, Greifswald, Germany. alexspas@uni-greifswald.de
Alexander
A
Spassov
Tomasz
T
Gredes
Dragan
D
Pavlovic
Tomasz
T
Gedrange
Christian
C
Lehmann
Silke
S
Lucke
Christiane
C
Kunert-Keil
D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016189:Dystrophin / Q000235:genetics; D005152:Facial Muscles / Q000473:pathology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008410:Masticatory Muscles / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018101:Mice, Inbred mdx; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D064231:Nestin; D012038:Regeneration; D032496:Satellite Cells, Skeletal Muscle / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016608:Talin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016596:Vinculin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D016189:Dystrophin; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; C577484:NES protein, human; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C577485:Nes protein, mouse; D064231:Nestin; C518833:TLN2 protein, mouse; D016608:Talin; C496077:Tln1 protein, mouse; D016596:Vinculin