Development of method for myosin- and actin-measurements in musclefibers

• Main Author: Corpeno, Rebeca
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för medicinsk biokemi och mikrobiologi 2008
• Subjects: Protein concentration; muscleprotein; myosin heavy chain (MHC); acute quadriplegic myopathy (AQM); ELISA
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-9172

The purpose of this study was to gain more knowledge about the deleterious effects of decreased muscle protein concentration on skeletal muscle function, by measuring the concentrations of myosin and actin in single pig muscle fibres. The pigs were earlier used in an experimental animal model to study the early stages of acute quadriplegic myopathy (AQM), a disease that is found in mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients. Percutaneous biopsies were taken from these pigs and where now used in this study. Even though the method used was accurately tested and theoretically working, certain problems arose. These problems were unexpected and caused problems to the study. The method used to measure the concentration of myosin and actin, an ELISA, gave no logical results. The reason could not be found and because of the time limit of this project no results from the AQM-pigs were gained. The efforts to make the method work is described and discussed.