Myosin heavy chain composition of muscle fibers in spinal muscular atrophy

Muscle biopsies from 20 cases of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), mostly diagnosed as Werdnig-Hoffmann (W-H) disease, were examined for myosin heavy chain (HC) composition. The fetal, fast, and slow heavy chains were characterized in the isolated muscle myosin, and in myosin of single, chemically skinned fibers, by electrophoresis in SDS-6% polyacrylamide gels and by immunoblot techniques, using specific antibodies directed to each main type of myosin HC. The fiber distribution of myosin HC isozymes was further investigated on muscle cryostat sections by an indirect immunofluorescent technique. Fetal myosin HC was found to be expressed in a subpopulation of severely atrophic fibers, alone or together with the slow form of myosin HC. Triangulated fibers of intermediate size contained fetal and fast myosin or fast myosin alone. The hypertrophic fibers were characterized by the predominant expression of slow myosin HC; but in some of these fibers, also low amounts of HC fetal were found to be expressed. These findings are discussed in relation to developmental transitions of myosin heavy chains in human muscle.