What question did this study set out to answer?

Investigate whether the intermediate filament desmin is required for embryonic myogenesis, muscle maturation, or mechanical maintenance and regeneration in skeletal muscle.

October 6, 1997The Journal of Cell BiologyOpen Access

Desmin Is Essential for the Tensile Strength and Integrity of Myofibrils but Not for Myogenic Commitment, Differentiation, and Fusion of Skeletal Muscle

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Authors

ZLZhenlin LiWannan Medical College MMMathias MericskayInserm OAOnnik AgbulutCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Implication

Knockout mouse study shows that desmin deficiency causes contraction damage and weakness in mice, indicating desmin is essential for mechanical integrity rather than early muscle differentiation.

Key Points

Investigate whether the intermediate filament desmin is required for embryonic myogenesis, muscle maturation, or mechanical maintenance and regeneration in skeletal muscle.
Generated desmin-null (Des -/-) mice using homologous recombination to target the desmin gene.
Evaluated somitogenesis, muscle differentiation, cell fusion, and postnatal degeneration-regeneration cycles across weight-bearing and continually active muscles, including the soleus, diaphragm, and heart.
Desmin-null mice develop normally and are fertile, demonstrating that early myogenic commitment, differentiation, and cell fusion occur independent of desmin.
Postnatal mice exhibited weakness, rapid fatigue, and heightened contraction-induced muscle degeneration accompanied by macrophage infiltration and subsarcolemmal mitochondrial accumulation.
Regenerating fibers displayed disorganized, abortive myofibrillogenesis and a shift toward slow myosin heavy chain without compensatory upregulation of vimentin.

Cite This Study

Li et al. (1997) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a704aaa26a7f98052dccc13 https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.139.1.129

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Implication

Knockout mouse study shows that desmin deficiency causes contraction damage and weakness in mice, indicating desmin is essential for mechanical integrity rather than early muscle differentiation.

Desmin Is Essential for the Tensile Strength and Integrity of Myofibrils but Not for Myogenic Commitment, Differentiation, and Fusion of Skeletal Muscle

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Desmin Is Essential for the Tensile Strength and Integrity of Myofibrils but Not for Myogenic Commitment, Differentiation, and Fusion of Skeletal Muscle

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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