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Effect of serotonin modulation on dystrophin-deficient zebrafish.

ABSTRACT: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive muscle-wasting disease caused by mutation of the dystrophin gene. Pharmacological therapies that function independently of dystrophin and complement strategies aimed at dystrophin restoration could significantly improve patient outcomes. Previous observations have suggested that serotonin pathway modulation ameliorates dystrophic pathology, and re-application of serotonin modulators already used clinically would potentially hasten availability to DMD patients. In our study, we used dystrophin-deficient sapje and sapje-like zebrafish models of DMD for rapid and easy screening of several classes of serotonin pathway modulators as potential therapeutics. None of the candidate drugs tested significantly decreased the percentage of zebrafish exhibiting the dystrophic muscle phenotype in the short-term birefringence assay or lengthened the lifespan in the long-term survival assay. Although we did not identify an effective drug, we believe our data is of value to the DMD research community for future studies, and there is evidence that suggests serotonin modulation may still be a viable treatment strategy with further investigation. Given the widespread clinical use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants and reversible inhibitors of monoamine oxidase, their reapplication to DMD is an attractive strategy in the field's pursuit to identify pharmacological therapies to complement dystrophin restoration strategies.

SUBMITTER: Spinazzola JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7473644 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effect of serotonin modulation on dystrophin-deficient zebrafish.

Spinazzola Janelle M JM Lambert Matthias R MR Gibbs Devin E DE Conner James R JR Krikorian Georgia L GL Pareek Prithu P Rago Carlo C Kunkel Louis M LM

Biology open 20200828 8

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive muscle-wasting disease caused by mutation of the <i>dystrophin</i> gene. Pharmacological therapies that function independently of dystrophin and complement strategies aimed at dystrophin restoration could significantly improve patient outcomes. Previous observations have suggested that serotonin pathway modulation ameliorates dystrophic pathology, and re-application of serotonin modulators already used clinically would potentially hasten availab ...[more]

PMID: 32718931

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Project description:BACKGROUND:We are developing a novel therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), involving the transplantation of autologous, skeletal muscle-derived stem cells that have been genetically corrected to express dystrophin. Dystrophin is normally expressed in activated satellite cells and in differentiated muscle fibres. However, in past preclinical validation studies, dystrophin transgenes have generally been driven by constitutive promoters that would be active at every stage of the myogenic differentiation process, including in proliferating muscle stem cells. It is not known whether artificial dystrophin expression would affect the properties of these cells. AIMS:Our aims are to determine if mini-dystrophin expression affects the proliferation or myogenic differentiation of DMD skeletal muscle-derived cells. METHODS:Skeletal muscle-derived cells from a DMD patient were transduced with lentivirus coding for mini-dystrophins (R3-R13 spectrin-like repeats (?R3R13) or hinge2 to spectrin-like repeats R23 (?H2R23)) with EGFP (enhanced green fluorescence protein) fused to the C-terminus, driven by a constitutive promoter, spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV). Transduced cells were purified on the basis of GFP expression. Their proliferation and myogenic differentiation were quantified by ethynyl deoxyuridine (EdU) incorporation and fusion index. Furthermore, dystrophin small interfering ribonucleic acids (siRNAs) were transfected to the cells to reverse the effects of the mini-dystrophin. Finally, a phospho-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) array assay was performed to investigate signalling pathway changes caused by dystrophin expression. RESULTS:Cell proliferation was not affected in cells transduced with ?R3R13, but was significantly increased in cells transduced with ?H2R23. The fusion index of myotubes derived from both ?R3R13- and ?H2R23 -expressing cells was significantly compromised in comparison to myotubes derived from non-transduced cells. Dystrophin siRNA transfection restored the differentiation of ?H2R23-expressing cells. The Erk1/2- signalling pathway is altered in cells transduced with mini-dystrophin constructs. CONCLUSIONS:Ectopic expression of dystrophin in cultured human skeletal muscle-derived cells may affect their proliferation and differentiation capacity. Caution should be taken when considering genetic correction of autologous stem cells to express dystrophin driven by a constitutive promoter.

Dataset Information

Effect of serotonin modulation on dystrophin-deficient zebrafish.

Publications

Effect of serotonin modulation on dystrophin-deficient zebrafish.

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