Esterase in normal and dystrophic muscle
Kirkeby, S.; Moe, D.
Cellular and Molecular Biology 33(1): 101-109
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0145-5680 PMID: 3568068 Document Number: 303471
Esterase activity was investigated in muscles from dystrophic mice and their control littermates. An increase in size and a decrease in number of strongly reacting sarcoplasmic granules was noticed in the dystrophic muscle fibers. Certain cellular components in the enlarged endomysium show high activity in affected areas of the muscle. The esterases in these cells were highly sensitive to organophosphate. The isoenzyme analyses with integration of the esterase bands in polyacrylamide gels show that both quantitative and qualitative changes taken place in skeletal muscles at dystrophy. The total esterase activity had more than doubled in dystrophic muscles. With zone electrophorsis a slow migrating double band was more marked in dystrophic muscles then in controls. This and most other slow migrating esterase isozymes were sensitive to organophosphate. By 2-dimensional electrophoresis these esterases were shown to have isoelectric points at pH 7.0-6.6.