First Author | Richard I | Year | 2000 |
Journal | J Cell Biol | Volume | 151 |
Issue | 7 | Pages | 1583-90 |
PubMed ID | 11134085 | Mgi Jnum | J:66862 |
Mgi Id | MGI:1929361 | Doi | 10.1083/jcb.151.7.1583 |
Citation | Richard I, et al. (2000) Loss of calpain 3 proteolytic activity leads to muscular dystrophy and to apoptosis-associated IkappaBalpha/nuclear factor kappaB pathway perturbation in mice. J Cell Biol 151(7):1583-90 |
abstractText | Calpain 3 is known as the skeletal muscle-specific member of the calpains, a family of intracellular nonlysosomal cysteine proteases. It was previously shown that defects in the human calpain 3 gene are responsible for limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A (LGMD2A), an inherited disease affecting predominantly the proximal limb muscles. To better understand the function of calpain 3 and the pathophysiological mechanisms of LGMD2A and also to develop an adequate model for therapy research, we generated capn3-deficient mice by gene targeting. capn3-deficient mice are fully fertile and viable. Allele transmission in intercross progeny demonstrated a statistically significant departure from Mendel's law. capn3-deficient mice show a mild progressive muscular dystrophy that affects a specific group of muscles. The age of appearance of myopathic features varies with the genetic background, suggesting the involvement of modifier genes. Affected muscles manifest a similar apoptosis-associated perturbation of the IkappaBalpha/nuclear factor kappaB pathway as seen in LGMD2A patients. In addition, Evans blue staining of muscle fibers reveals that the pathological process due to calpain 3 deficiency is associated with membrane alterations. |