Elemental analysis of biological tissues of Dmdmdx/J and C57BL/6J mice strains investigated by neutron activation analysis

In order to understand in more details the alterations that Duchenne muscular dystrophy disease may cause in biological tissues (blood, tibia, quadriceps and heart), correlations matrixes of the Dmd(mdx)/J dystrophic mice as well as C57BL/6J (control group) were generated. These mice were obtained from Jackson Laboratory (Maine, USA) and bred at IPEN (Dmd(mdx)/J), and at Centro de Estudos do Genoma Humano (C57BL/6J), both research centers at So Paulo city. Elements of clinical and nutritional relevance (Br, Ca, Cl, K, Mg, Na and S) were investigated by neutron activation analysis. These measurements were performed using the nuclear reactor IEA-R1 (3.5-4.5 MW, pool type) at IPEN. Comparisons between concentrations and correlations in these biological tissues, of these strains, showed that a Ca and Mg in blood are altered for the dystrophic mice. A significant change in the heart of dystrophic mice was also observed suggesting that a constant monitoring is required. Moreover, these results may help the researchers to evaluate the efficiency of new treatments and to compare the advantages of different treatment approaches before performing tests in patients with muscular dystrophy.