Sildenafil reverses cardiac dysfunction in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Candace M Adamo; Dao-Fu Dai; Justin M Percival; Elina Minami; Monte S Willis; Enrico Patrucco; Stanley C Froehner; Joseph A Beavo

doi:10.1073/pnas.1013077107

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Sildenafil reverses cardiac dysfunction in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

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Sildenafil reverses cardiac dysfunction in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Candace M Adamo, Dao-Fu Dai, Justin M Percival, Elina Minami, Monte S Willis, Enrico Patrucco, Stanley C Froehner and Joseph A Beavo

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.107(44), pp.19079-19083

11/02/2010

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1013077107

PMCID: PMC2973894

PMID: 20956307

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Abstract

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive and fatal genetic disorder of muscle degeneration. Patients with DMD lack expression of the protein dystrophin as a result of mutations in the X-linked dystrophin gene. The loss of dystrophin leads to severe skeletal muscle pathologies as well as cardiomyopathy, which manifests as congestive heart failure and arrhythmias. Like humans, dystrophin-deficient mice ( mdx mice) show cardiac dysfunction as evidenced by a decrease in diastolic function followed by systolic dysfunction later in life. We have investigated whether sildenafil citrate (Viagra), a phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitor, can be used to ameliorate the age-related cardiac dysfunction present in the mdx mice. By using echocardiography, we show that chronic sildenafil treatment reduces functional deficits in the cardiac performance of aged mdx mice, with no effect on normal cardiac function in WT controls. More importantly, when sildenafil treatment was started after cardiomyopathy had developed, the established symptoms were rapidly reversed within a few days. It is recognized that PDE5 inhibitors can have cardioprotective effects in other models of cardiac damage, but the present study reports a prevention and reversal of pathological cardiac dysfunction as measured by functional analysis in a mouse model of DMD. Overall, the data suggest that PDE5 inhibitors may be a useful treatment for the cardiomyopathy affecting patients with DMD at early and late stages of the disease.

Biological Sciences

cGMP

phosphodiesterase

Viagra

echocardiography

Details

Title: Subtitle: Sildenafil reverses cardiac dysfunction in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Creators: Candace M Adamo - Departments of
Dao-Fu Dai - Pathology
Justin M Percival - Physiology and Biophysics, and
Elina Minami - Medicine
Monte S Willis - Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Enrico Patrucco - Departments of
Stanley C Froehner - Physiology and Biophysics, and
Joseph A Beavo - Departments of
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.107(44), pp.19079-19083
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1013077107
PMID: 20956307
PMCID: PMC2973894
NLM abbreviation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN: 0027-8424
eISSN: 1091-6490
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Language: English
Date published: 11/02/2010
Academic Unit: Pathology; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Radiation Oncology
Record Identifier: 9984047899602771

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