Electrical impedance myography for the in vivo and ex vivo assessment of muscular dystrophy (mdx) mouse muscle.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Sensitive, non-invasive techniques are needed that can provide biomarkers of disease status and the effects of therapy in muscular dystrophy. METHODS: We evaluated electrical impedance myography (EIM) to serve in this role by studying 2-month-old and 18-month-old mdx and wild-type (WT) animals (10 animals in each of 4 groups). RESULTS: Marked differences were observed in EIM values between mdx and WT animals; the differences were more pronounced between the older age groups (e.g., reactance of 92.6 &#xb1; 4.3 &#x3a9; for mdx animals vs. 130 &#xb1; 4.1 &#x3a9; for WT animals, P<0.001). In addition, in vivo EIM parameters correlated significantly with the extent of connective tissue deposition in the mdx animals. CONCLUSIONS: EIM has the potential to serve as a valuable non-invasive method for evaluating muscular dystrophy. It can be a useful biomarker to assist with therapeutic testing in both pre-clinical and clinical studies.