Functional protection of dystrophic mouse (mdx) muscles after adenovirus-mediated transfer of a dystrophin minigene

Fast skeletal muscles of mdx (X chromosome-linked muscular dystrophy) mice were injected after birth with a recombinant adenovirus containing a minidystrophin gene, a 6.3-kbp cDNA coding for the N- and C-terminal ends of dystrophin. Adult muscles were challenged by forced lengthening during tetanic contractions. Stretch-induced mechanical and histological damages were much reduced in injected muscles, in direct proportion of the number of fibers expressing minidystrophin. Damaged fibers were preferentially found among minidystrophin-negative regions, Minidystrophin confers an important functional and structural protection of limb muscles against high mechanical stress, even after a partial somatic gene transfer.