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S L Roberds

Publications and source records attributed to S L Roberds.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Abnormal expression of laminin suggests disturbance of sarcolemma-extracellular matrix interaction in Japanese patients with autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy deficient in adhalin.

Dystrophin is associated with several novel sarcolemmal proteins, including a laminin-binding extracellular glycoprotein of 156 kD (alpha-dystroglycan) and a transmembrane glycoprotein of 50 kD (adhalin). Deficiency of adhalin characterizes a severe autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy prevalent in Arabs. Here we report for the first time two mongoloid (Japanese) patients with autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy deficient in adhalin. Interestingly, adhalin was not completely absent and was faintly detectable in a patchy distribution along the sarcolemma in our patients. Although the M and B2 subunits of laminin were preserved, the B1 subunit was greatly reduced in the basal lamina surrounding muscle fibers. Our results raise a possibility that the deficiency of adhalin may be associated with the disturbance of sarcolemma-extracellular matrix interaction leading to sarcolemmal instability.

Adult↗

Genetic heterogeneity of severe childhood autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy with adhalin (50 kDa dystrophin-associated glycoprotein) deficiency.

Severe autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy (SCARMD), McKusick n. 253700, has been originally described in North-African populations, in which significant linkage has been established with DNA markers mapping to the proximal region of the long arm of chromosome 13, without evidence for heterogeneity of the SCARMD locus in these populations. A striking feature of this disease is the isolated deficiency of adhalin, a sarcolemmal 50 kDa dystrophin-associated glycoprotein. We report a non-inbred French family with a milder progressive form of muscular dystrophy affecting subjects of both sexes. The parents are not affected suggesting an autosomal recessive transmission. In 4 siblings displaying mild to overt clinical signs of muscular dystrophy, serum creatine kinase was high, and muscle specimens showed variable degree of necrosis-regeneration with little fibrosis. In the 4 cases adhalin was completely absent in muscle sections, whereas dystrophin and the other members of the dystrophin-associated protein complex were normal, except for the 35 kDa dystrophin-associated glycoprotein which was decreased as usually observed in SCARMD. Linkage and homogeneity analysis using 4 microsatellite markers of chromosome 13q that are linked to the North-African SCARMD locus were performed in this family. Results show that the morbid locus involved in this family does not map to the same region as the SCARMD locus. This second locus may be involved in sporadic cases of muscular dystrophy with adhalin deficiency that have been reported in Europe.

Adolescent↗

Primary structure and muscle-specific expression of the 50-kDa dystrophin-associated glycoprotein (adhalin).

The 50-kDa dystrophin-associated glycoprotein (50-DAG) is a component of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex, which links the muscle cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. 50-DAG is specifically deficient in skeletal muscle of patients with severe childhood autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy and in skeletal and cardiac muscles of BIO 14.6 cardiomyopathic hamsters. The lack of 50-DAG leads to a disruption and dysfunction of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex in these diseases. The cDNA encoding 50-DAG has now been cloned from rabbit skeletal muscle. The 50-DAG deduced amino acid sequence predicts a novel protein having 387 amino acids, a 17-amino acid signal sequence, one transmembrane domain, and two potential sites of N-linked glycosylation. Affinity-purified antibodies against rabbit 50-DAG fusion proteins or synthetic peptides specifically recognized a 50-kDa protein in skeletal muscle sarcolemma and the 50-kDa component of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex. In contrast to dystroglycan, which is expressed in a wide variety of muscle and non-muscle tissues, 50-DAG is expressed only in skeletal and cardiac muscles and in selected smooth muscles. Finally, 50-DAG mRNA is present in mdx and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) muscle, indicating that the down-regulation of this protein in DMD and the mdx mouse is likely a post-translational event.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Disruption of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex in the cardiomyopathic hamster.

Cardiomyopathies are a diverse group of primary cardiac diseases, most of which have a poorly understood etiology. One type of hereditary cardiomyopathy is caused by defects in the dystrophin gene in Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy patients. Our laboratory has identified a complex of dystrophin-associated proteins in skeletal and cardiac muscle which span the sarcolemma, linking the subsarcolemmal cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. The absence of dystrophin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients leads to the loss of dystrophin-associated proteins in both skeletal and cardiac muscle, suggesting that a primary loss of one or more dystrophin-associated proteins might lead to other forms of cardiomyopathy. Here we report the specific deficiency of the 50-kDa dystrophin-associated glycoprotein in cardiac and skeletal muscles of the BIO 14.6 strain of cardiomyopathic hamsters, which experience both autosomal recessive cardiomyopathy and myopathy. Other dystrophin-associated proteins are well preserved in myopathic hamster skeletal muscle, but the link between dystrophin and dystroglycan is disrupted. All dystrophin-associated proteins are decreased in abundance in the cardiomyopathic hamster heart, perhaps explaining why the cardiomyopathy is more severe than the myopathy. Thus, the disruption of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex may play a role in skeletal and cardiac myocyte necrosis of the cardiomyopathic hamster.

Animals↗

Chromosomal mapping in the mouse of eight K(+)-channel genes representing the four Shaker-like subfamilies Shaker, Shab, Shaw, and Shal.

The four Shaker-like subfamilies of Shaker-, Shab-, Shaw-, and Shal-related K+ channels in mammals have been defined on the basis of their sequence homologies to the corresponding Drosophila genes. Using interspecific backcrosses between Mus musculus and Mus spretus, we have chromosomally mapped in the mouse the Shaker-related K(+)-channel genes Kcna1, Kcna2, Kcna4, Kcna5, and Kcna6; the Shab-related gene Kcnb1; the Shaw-related gene Kcnc4; and the Shal-related gene Kcnd2. The following localizations were determined: Chr 2, cen-Acra-Kcna4-Pax-6-a-Pck-1-Kras-3-Kcn b1 (corresponding human Chrs 11p and 20q, respectively); Chr 3, cen-Hao-2-(Kcna2, Kcnc4)-Amy-1 (human Chr 1); and Chr 6, cen-Cola-2-Met-Kcnd2-Cpa-Tcrb-adr/Clc-1-Hox-1.1-Myk - 103-Raf-1-(Tpi-1, Kcna1, Kcna5, Kcna6) (human Chrs 7q and 12p, respectively). Thus, there is a cluster of at least three Shaker-related K(+)-channel genes on distal mouse Chr 6 and a cluster on Chr 2 that at least consists of one Shaker-related and one Shaw-related gene. The three other K(+)-channel genes are not linked to each other. The map positions of the different types of K(+)-channel genes in the mouse are discussed in relation to those of their homologs in man and to hereditary diseases of mouse and man that might involve K+ channels.

Animals↗

Clustering and immobilization of acetylcholine receptors by the 43-kD protein: a possible role for dystrophin-related protein.

Recombinant acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) expressed on the surface of cultured fibroblasts become organized into discrete membrane domains when the 43-kD postsynaptic protein (43k) is co-expressed in the same cells (Froehner, S.C., C. W. Luetje, P. B. Scotland, and J. Patrick, 1990. Neuron. 5:403-410; Phillips, W. D., M. C. Kopta, P. Blount, P. D. Gardner, J. H. Steinbach, and J. P. Merlie. 1991. Science (Wash. DC). 251:568-570). Here we show that AChRs present on the fibroblast cell surface prior to transfection of 43k are recruited into 43k-rich membrane domains. Aggregated AChRs show increased resistance to extraction with Triton X-100, suggesting a 43k-dependent linkage to the cytoskeleton. Myotubes of the mouse cell line C2 spontaneously display occasional AChR/43k-rich membrane domains that ranged in diameter up to 15 microns, but expressed many more when 43k was overexpressed following transfection of 43k cDNA. However, the membrane domains induced by recombinant 43k were predominantly small (< or = 2 microns). We were then interested in whether the cytoskeletal component, dystrophin related protein (DRP; Tinsley, J. M., D. J. Blake, A. Roche, U. Fairbrother, J. Riss, B. C. Byth, A. E. Knight, J. Kendrick-Jones, G. K. Suthers, D. R. Love, Y. H. Edwards, and K. E. Davis, 1992. Nature (Lond.). 360:591-593) contributed to the development of AChR clusters. Immunofluorescent anti-DRP staining was present at the earliest stages of AChR clustering at the neuromuscular synapse in mouse embryos and was also concentrated at the large AChR-rich domains on nontransfected C2 myotubes. Surprisingly, anti-DRP staining was concentrated mainly at the large, but not the small AChR clusters on C2 myotubes suggesting that DRP may be principally involved in permitting the growth of AChR clusters.

Animals↗

Molecular biology of the voltage-gated potassium channels of the cardiovascular system.

K+ channels represent the most diverse class of voltage-gated ion channels in terms of function and structure. Voltage-gated K+ channels in the heart establish the resting membrane K+ permeability, modulate the frequency and duration of action potentials, and are targets of several antiarrhythmic drugs. Consequently, an understanding of K+ channel structure-function relationships and pharmacology is of great practical interest. However, the presence of multiple overlapping currents in native cardiac myocytes complicates the study of basic K+ channel function and drug-channel interactions in these cells. The application of molecular cloning technology to cardiovascular K+ channels has identified the primary structure of these proteins, and heterologous expression systems have allowed a detailed analysis of channel function and pharmacology without contaminating currents. To date six different K+ channels have been cloned from rat and human heart, and all have been functionally characterized in either Xenopus oocytes or mammalian tissue culture systems. This initial research is an important step toward understanding the molecular basis of the action potential in the heart. An important challenge for the future is to determine the cell-specific expression and relative contribution of these cloned channels to cardiac excitability.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Time-, voltage-, and state-dependent block by quinidine of a cloned human cardiac potassium channel.

The interaction of quinidine with a cloned human cardiac potassium channel (HK2) expressed in a stable mouse L cell line was studied using the whole-cell tight-seal voltage-clamp technique. Quinidine (20 microM) did not affect the initial sigmoidal activation time course of the current. However, it reduced the peak current and induced a subsequent decline, with a time constant of 8.2 +/- 0.8 msec, to 28 +/- 6% of control (at +60 mV). The concentration dependence of HK2 block at +60 mV yielded an apparent KD of 6 microM and a Hill coefficient of 0.9. The degree of block was voltage dependent. Block increased from 0.60 +/- 0.09 at 0 mV to 0.72 +/- 0.06 at +60 mV with 20 microM quinidine and from 0.39 +/- 0.20 to 0.48 +/- 0.16 with 6 microM. Paired analysis in seven experiments with 20 microM quinidine indicated that the voltage-dependent increase in block was significant (difference, 12 +/- 4%; p less than 0.001). This voltage dependence was described by an equivalent electrical distance delta of 0.19 +/- 0.02, which suggested that at the binding site quinidine experienced 19% of the applied transmembrane electrical field, referenced to the inner surface. Quinidine reduced the tail current amplitude and slowed the time course relative to control, resulting in a "crossover" phenomenon. These data indicate that 1) the charged form of quinidine blocks the HK2 channel after it opens, 2) binding occurs within the transmembrane electrical field (probably in or near the ion permeation pathway), and 3) unbinding is required before the channel can close.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Functional characterization of RK5, a voltage-gated K+ channel cloned from the rat cardiovascular system.

A voltage-sensitive K+ channel previously cloned from rat heart designated RK5 (rat Kv4.2) (Roberds and Tamkun, 1991, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 1798-1802) was functionally characterized in the Xenopus oocyte expression system. RK5 is a homolog of the Drosophila Shal K+ channel, activates with a rise time of 2.8 ms, has a midpoint for activation of -1 mV and rapidly inactivates with time constants of 15 and 60 ms. RK5 is sensitive to 4-AP, IC50 = 5 mM, and is insensitive to TEA and dendrotoxins. The voltage dependence and kinetics of the RK5 induced currents suggest this channel contributes to the Ito current in heart.

Animals↗

Developmental expression of cloned cardiac potassium channels.

Cardiac K+ channels are responsible for repolarization of the action potential and are the targets of several antiarrhythmic drugs. This study examines the differential expression of six K+ channel mRNAs during rat heart development. RK1 and RK2 K+ channel transcripts were undetectable prior to 10 days after birth. In contrast, RK4 mRNA was present at equivalent levels from day 14 in utero to 20 days after birth. RK3 and RK5 were detected as early as 14 days in utero. These data indicate that K+ channel expression in the heart is closely regulated and further argue for physiologically distinct roles for K+ channel isoforms.

Animals↗

Cloning and tissue-specific expression of five voltage-gated potassium channel cDNAs expressed in rat heart.

Five distinct K+ channel cDNA molecules (RK1 to RK5) were cloned from either rat heart or rat aorta cDNA libraries. Four of the channels, RK1 to RK4, are similar or identical to Shaker-like K+ channels previously identified in rat brain cDNA libraries. Major differences among RK1 to RK4 exist in the amino- and carboxyl-terminal regions and in amino acids representing potential extracellular sequence between the S1 and S2 hydrophobic domains. RK5 encodes a unique channel of 490 amino acids having six hydrophobic domains but only five basic residues in the putative voltage-sensing domain. Unlike RK1 to RK4, RK5 is a rat homologue of the Drosophila Shal family of K+ channels, which have not been previously described in mammals. Although RK5 mRNA is present in cardiac atrium and ventricle, it is most abundant in brain. RK1, RK2, and RK3 transcripts are predominantly found in brain but are present also at lower levels in other tissues, such as heart and aorta. RK2 is absent from skeletal muscle whereas RK1 and RK3 are present in this tissue. RK4 mRNA is ubiquitous in electrically excitable tissue, being present at comparable levels in atrium, ventricle, aorta, brain, and skeletal muscle. The cloning of RK5 confirms the presence in mammals of all four Drosophila K+ channel families: Shaker, Shab, Shaw, and Shal.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Effect of the antiviral compound MDL 20,610 on some aspects of murine immune function.

At physiologically relevant concentrations an antiviral compound should not perturb the host's ability to mount an immune response against the infecting virus or some other opportunistic pathogen. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of the antiviral compound MDL 20,610 using murine models. When tested in vitro at the limit of aqueous solubility (6 microM), MDL 20,610 has no significant effect on neutrophil function as assessed by cell migration against FMLP and LTB4 gradients, myeloperoxidase secretion or 0.-2 production. In addition, 6 microM MDL 20,610 has no significant effect on macrophage function as determined by 0.-2 production, Ia and Mac-1 antigen expression and expression of Fc gamma receptors. Finally, MDL 20,610 does not significantly affect in vivo (1-100 mg/kg/day) NK cell activity or DTH to oxazolone; but treatment of mice with 50 or 100 mg MDL 20,610/kg/day significantly (P less than 0.01) enhances SRBC IgM antibody synthesis. These data indicate that MDL 20,610 is relatively devoid of immunomodulatory activity.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗