Infrared spectroscopy of dystrophic mdx mouse muscle tissue distinguishes among treatment groups

Four groups of mdx mice (deflazacort, high close of 1.5 mg/kg and low dose of 0.75 mg/kg; prednisone, 1.0 mg/kg; and a placebo) were examined in a double-blind protocol. The experiments tested the hypothesis that infrared spectroscopy can distinguish among gastrocnemius muscle tissues derived from dystrophic animals (n = 22) from different treatment groups and fi-om control muscle tissue (n = 23). Results showed that muscle, inflamed muscle, and tendon can be distinguished on the basis of their infrared absorption patterns. Distinctions among the spectra of the four treatment groups were sought with automated pattern-recognition methods. These classification methods, based either on spectral regions (900-1,500 cm(-1)) or on principal-component analysis, were in close agreement, assigning 15 or 16, respectively, of 22 mdx spectra to the correct treatment group. Both trials cleanly separated the high-dose deflazacort from the placebo group of muscles, whereas the prednisone and low-dose deflazacort groups were persistently confused in these classifications. Changes in the histology of muscle inflammation paralleled the spectral-classification results. Thus the proposed method, combining infrared spectroscopy with pattern-recognition algorithms, can distinguish treatment effects on muscle tissue. Specific spectral features characteristic of tissue type, disease progression and treatment effects are not yet elucidated.