Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Muscular dystrophy causing weakness in male Japanese Spitz dogs
By Jones, Boyd R et al.·Published in Journal of the neurological sciences·2004·Department of Small Animal Clinical Studies·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Muscular dystrophy with truncated dystrophin in a family of Japanese Spitz dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of seven male Japanese Spitz dogs was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, showing symptoms like weakness, difficulty chewing, and trouble exercising. Their blood tests revealed very high levels of a muscle enzyme called creatine kinase, indicating muscle damage. Muscle tissue samples showed signs of degeneration, and tests revealed a shortened version of a protein called dystrophin, which is important for muscle health. Unfortunately, this shortened protein was not enough to prevent the muscle problems.
People also search for: Japanese Spitz muscular dystrophy symptoms · dog exercise intolerance · dog muscle weakness treatment
Abstract
Muscular dystrophy was diagnosed in seven male Japanese Spitz dogs with clinical signs of slowly progressive exercise intolerance, generalized weakness, myalgia, difficulty chewing and dysphagia. Serum creatine kinase (CK) concentrations were markedly elevated. Histopathology showed degeneration and regeneration of muscle, consistent with a dystrophic phenotype. Immunohistochemical staining for dystrophin and related proteins showed no staining with a monoclonal antibody against the rod domain of dystrophin but near-normal staining with an antibody against the C terminus. Immunoblot analysis in two affected dogs showed a truncated dystrophin protein of approximately 70-80 kDa. The severity of disease showed that this fragment was not large enough to protect from the dystrophic process.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14706216/