Superoxide dismutases of muscle in mitochondrial encephalomyopathies

✍ Scribed by Norio Ohkoshi; Hldehlro Mizusawa; Nobuko Shiraiwa; Shin'Ichi Shoji; Katsutoshi Harada; Kazuo Yoshizawa

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 734 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-639X
• DOI: 10.1002/mus.880181108

✦ Synopsis

lmmunohistochemical analyses were made of the superoxide dismutases (Mn-SOD and Cu/Zn-SOD) in biopsied muscles from 7 patients with mitochondrial encephalomyopathies that included mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis and strokelike episodes (MELAS), and chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO). Mn-SOD mainly was present in the subsarcolemmal region, but it also was found in a coarsely granular, reticular, or diffuse pattern of staining within the muscle fibers. These Mn-SOD-positive fibers corresponded almost completely to the ragged-red fibers. The immunoreaction for Cu/Zn-SOD was weakly positive in some of the muscle fibers positive for Mn-SOD. In CPEO, Mn-SOD-positive fibers predominantly showed decreased cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity. In MELAS, Mn-SODpositive fibers tended to be stained deeply for COX although a few were COX-negative. These findings suggest that Mn-SOD-positive fibers can be used to make a differential diagnosis between CPEO and MELAS and that in mitochondrial encephalomyopathies Mn-SOD in the raggedred fibers may protect against oxidative stress.