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Phenytoin application in murine muscular dystrophy: Behavioral improvement with no change in the abnormal intracellular Na : K ratio in skeletal muscles

1978; Elsevier BV; Volume: 62; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0014-4886(78)90273-x

1090-2430

Harold Silverman, Harold L. Atwood, Joseph Bloom,

Ion channel regulation and function

Abstract Dystrophic mice injected with phenytoin showed behavioral improvement (improved motor control of hind limbs). An electromyographic assay of the myotonic-like activity (associated with dystrophy in mice) demonstrated the drug's ability to reduce this activity within 15 min of a single injection. The abnormal intracellular Na and K values of skeletal muscle fibers in the gastrocnemius, plantaris, and soleus muscles of the dystrophic mouse were unchanged after 21 days of phenytoin administration. The data suggest that phenytoin is not acting directly on the muscle membrane determinants of the abnormal (dystrophic) ion concentrations, and that the drug's inhibition of myotonic-like electrical activity, probably at the neural level, is responsible for the behavioral improvement in the dystrophic animals.