Impaired mitochondrial quality control in skeletal muscles from C57 and D2 mdx model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

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Mitochondrial dysfunction is an early pathological feature of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and precedes myopathy. Balanced mitochondrial quality control (e.g., fission, fusion, biogenesis, autophagy, and mitophagy) is essential to maintain the overall mitochondrial health and skeletal muscle function. DBA/2J mdx (D2- mdx) has emerged as a more relevant mouse model of DMD as it more closely mirrors early stage of DMD pathology in humans than the C57BL/10 mdx (C57 -mdx) model. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the expression of proteins responsible for mitochondrial quality control were dysregulated in skeletal muscles from these two mouse models of DMD. We hypothesized that the expression of protein markers of mitochondrial fission and mitophagy would be higher, while markers of mitochondrial fusion would be lower in both models of DMD with greater alterations in D2- mdx mice. 8-10-week-old male C57 -mdx and D2- mdx mice, and their respective wildtype (WT) mice were used in this study. Muscle strength was measured using hang wire test. Gastrocnemius muscles were collected for immunoblot analysis to assess mitochondrial quality control proteins. Hang wire impulse, an indicator of muscle strength, was significantly lower in both models of DMD in comparison to their WT controls (main effect of mdx, P = 0.01). Regarding mitochondrial fission, while there was no difference in protein expression and phosphorylation (Ser 616) of Dynamin-Related Protein 1 (Drp1) between any groups, mitochondrial fission 1 protein (Fis1) was markedly higher in skeletal muscles from both models of DMD when compared to WT controls (main effect of mdx, P=0.0001). Greater expression of Fis1 was observed in D2- mdx than C57- mdx when compared to their respective WT controls (~5.7-fold vs. 3.8-fold). Furthermore, mitochondrial fusion marker Mitofusion 1 (Mfn1) was significantly lower in both models of DMD (main effect of mdx, P=0.029), however, it appears to be mainly driven by the reduction in D2-mdx (mdx x strain interaction, P=0.019). No difference of Mfn1 expression was found in C57-mdx mice. Finally, expression of protein markers of mitochondrial biogenesis (PGC1 a) and autophagy (LC3B) were higher in both models of DMD when compared to their respective WT controls (main effect of mdx, P=0.0001 and P=0.001, respectively). In conclusion, these data suggest that there is dysregulated mitochondrial dynamics towards pro-fission state in skeletal muscle from mdx mice with an exacerbated effect in D2- mdx model, which may contribute to the muscle weakness phenotype associated with DMD This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.