MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY AND OTHER MYOPATHIES - SARCOTUBULAR VESICLES IN EARLY DISEASE

Sarcotubular vesicles from patients with certain types of muscular dystrophy or polymyositis show a diminished ability to remove calcium from very dilute solutions (decreased calcium affinity), whereas in some of these patients the capacity of vesicles to accumulate calcium, in the presence of excess calcium, is normal. Decreased calcium affinity is detectable in these disorders when oxidative phosphorylation of concomitantly isolated mitochondria is normal. It is not found in a wide variety of other muscular or neuromuscular diseases. © 1969.