Dystrophin Essay

Muscular dystrophy is a degenerating disease, in which the skeletal muscles degenerate, lose their strength, and cause increasing disability and deformity. Muscles attached to the bones through tendons are responsible for movement in the human body, however, in muscular dystrophy the muscles become progressively weak. As the muscle fibers

Attention Getter: Nowadays, with the development of the technology in the medical industry, human health condition is getting better. There are so many different medicine, vitamin are used for improving the human immunes systems to fight against diseases. But there are still some dangerous disease that can not be cured yet and Muscular Dystrophy Disease is one of them.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a disease which causes skeletal muscle to waste away, this wasting of muscle is caused by a mutation of the dystrophin gene (Meregalli et al., 2013, p. 4251).

Occurrence of muscle dystrophy is estimated to be one in 3-4,000 male births. There are also about 15,000 muscular dystrophy patients in the United States today with this disease. Those who have muscular dystrophy are missing the protein called dystrophin. Before scientists ever discovered the missing protein, the tested carriers for the disease had a high presence of elevated serum levels of creatine and phosphokinase. The disease can now be found for a prenatal diagnosis.

Ben has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). DMD is a degenerative disease of the muscles. When someone has this disease their muscles do not produce enough dystrophin to stay together. This causes the muscles to deteriorate over time. With proper care, the rate of muscle degradation can be slowed down. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Muscle weakness can start as early as age three. It first affects the hips, pelvic area, thighs, and shoulders. This disease is still fatal and will be until further studies and research are done to find ways to cure this disease.

Pasternak C, Wong S, Elson EL. (1995). Mechanical function of dystrophin in muscle cells. The Journal of Cell Biology, 128(3), 355-361. doi:10.1083/jcb.128.3.355

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a sex-linked disease, which is inherited in a recessive fashion (National Human Genome Research Institute, 2013). Over thirty similar genetic disorders exist (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015). All types of muscular dystrophy are considered to be a rare disorder (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015). Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is most common in children and causes muscle weakness and wasting, which commonly begins in the lower limbs (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015; National Human Genome Research Institute, 2013). The disease itself is caused by changes to the DMD gene, which is responsible for providing instructions regarding the creation of the dystrophin protein in one’s muscles (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015). This protein is responsible for protecting muscles from damage, and without it the cells of a person’s muscles deteriorate and symptoms of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy are exhibited (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015). The disease results from changes in the DMD gene, or other genetic changes in a child (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015).

DMD is the biggest (known) gene in the human body. It contains the directions to make the protein dystrophin. Dystrophin is found mostly in skeletal muscles and heart muscles. Modest amounts are present in the brain, in nerve cells also. Dystrophin joins other proteins to form a protein complex, that toil to strengthen muscle fibers and safeguard them from harm. Dystrophin complexes act as anchors (desmosomes), to

Muscular Dystrophy is a genetic disease in which muscle fibers are usually susceptible to damage and cause muscle wasting and weakness. There are bundles of fibers that make up muscles; proteins are involved in these muscles and help to keep the muscle working properly. If

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) refers to the muscle appearing poorly nourished because of degeneration, which leads to muscle weakness and lost of muscle mass. DMD is a disorder that is caused by genetic mutations in the dystrophin gene. Dystrophin is a muscle that connects the cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix (ECM). Tidy, D. C. (2016, April 15). When nonsense mutation or frameshift mutation occurs in dystrophin, it results in no protein at all, which causes a severe form of DMD. A dystrophin gene has more base pairs and more exons in comparison to most genes, which means the dysophin gene has a higher chance for mistakes during meiosis. The disorder affects one in 5000 newborn males. Tidy, D. C. (2016, April 15). Males have one

Muscular dystrophy (MD) is a rare, progressive disease relating to the weakening of skeletal muscles. There are more than 30 types of muscular dystrophy that are further divided into nine categories. Duchenne MD is the most common and acute form of this condition that accounts for 50% of all the cases. Duchenne MD (DMD) is most prevalent in males, between the ages of 3 and 5 (Norwood, FL, et al. 2009). This X-linked disease occurs for 1 in every 3,500 males, which results in confinement to a wheelchair (Blake et al., 2002). Becker MD (BMD) is a less severe type of this condition. A study conducted in the United Kingdom by Bushby, Thambyayah and Gardner-Medwin, the incidence of Becker MD was estimated to be 1 in 18,450 males at birth

Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive genetic disorder that leads to muscle atrophy and eventually death. Diagnosing DMD consists of blood tests, genetic testing, and muscle biopsies. Signs and symptoms begin presenting in toddlers with DMD and progressively worsen throughout life. There is no cure for DMD, and will cause terminal cardiopulmonary complications. Medical interventions consist of corticosteroid treatment, respiratory management, cardiac management, psychological management, and physical therapy interventions.

Prior to the 1980s, there was minimum knowledge relating to the causes of muscular dystrophy. However, in 1986, researchers discovered a gene, soon to be named dystrophin, on the X chromosome. The gene, when mutated, reacted by causing Duchenne muscular dystrophies. During 1987, the protein in relation to the gene discovered a year early was officially classified and named dystrophin. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) develops due to the mutated gene failure to supply active dystrophin. This minimum amount of dystrophin affects the body by developing muscle damage and continued weakness from early life.

DMD is caused by a mutation in the X-linked dystrophin gene, which results in a dysfunctional dystrophin protein. Dystrophin is a cytoskeletal protein that provides mechanical stability to muscle cells by connecting the muscle sarcolemma to the basal lamina of the extracellular matrix (ECM), and without it there, the muscle cells typically undergo a process of degeneration and regeneration. This process is limited by the survival of satellite cells present since satellite cells can only undergo mitosis a limited amount of times. Sarcolemma instability typically results in excess intracellular amounts of both sodium and calcium, which causes ATP depletion and mitochondrial uncoupling (Horn & Schleip, 2012). Satellite cells only have a limited number times they can undergo mitosis, and once a patient can no longer generate healthy muscle cells, the patient will typically experience cell death. This cell death and necrosis usually

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is one of many types of muscular dystrophy disorders, which affect the muscle fibers. It is the most aggressive form of muscular dystrophy. The muscle fibers gradually become weaker and incapacitate the affected individual. “DMD is a recessive, fatal, X-linked disorder occurring at a frequency of about 1 in 3,500 new-born males (NCBI, 2014).” Males are more susceptible to inherit this disorder because DMD is passed on through the X chromosome. Women can be carriers of the disorder without any adverse affects. The female carrier has a 50% chance of passing on this trait to an offspring. It is extremely rare that a female will have DMD. Symptoms of this disorder include muscle weakness that starts at the legs and progresses at a fast rate though out the body. The rapid progression of muscular dystrophy means that the inflicted individual will eventually be confined to a wheelchair in their life time. “Wheelchair dependency had a median age of 10 years (OMIM, 2013).” Other symptoms include degraded motor skills as well as learning disabilities. As muscle mass diminishes the individual suffers from heart and lung complications eventually leading to the persons’ death. “Death occurred at a median age of 17 years (OMIM, 2013).” The X-linked inherited disease is cased by a mutation in the DNA segment of the X chromosome in the DMD (P11532) gene. This