Intracellular oxygen (O 2 ) availability and the impact of ambient hypoxia have far reaching ramifications in terms of cell signalling and homeostasis; however, in vivo cellular oxygenation has been an elusive variable to assess. Within skeletal muscle the extent to which myoglobin desaturates (deoxy-Mb) and the extent of this desaturation in relation to O 2 availability provide an endogenous probe for intracellular O 2 partial pressure (P iO 2 ). By combining proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H NMRS) at a high field strength (4 T), assessing a large muscle volume in a highly efficient coil, and extended signal averaging (30 min) we assessed the level of skeletal muscle deoxy-Mb in 10 healthy men (30 ± 4 years) at rest in both normoxia and hypoxia (10% O 2 ). In normoxia there was an average deoxy-Mb signal of 9 ± 1%, which, when converted to P iO 2 using an O 2 /Mb half-saturation (P 50 ) of 3.2 mmHg, revealed an P iO 2 of 34 ± 6 mmHg. In ambient hypoxia the deoxy-Mb signal rose to 13 ± 3% (P iO 2 = 23 ± 6 mmHg). However, intersubject variation in the defence of arterial oxygenation (S aO 2 ) in hypoxia (S aO 2 range: 86-67%) revealed a significant relationship between the changes in S aO 2 and P iO 2 (r 2 = 0.5). These data are the first to document resting intracellular oxygenation in human skeletal muscle, highlighting the relatively high P iO 2 values that contrast markedly with those previously recorded during exercise (∼2-5 mmHg). Additionally, the impact of ambient hypoxia on P iO 2 and the relationship between changes in S aO 2 and P iO 2 stress the importance of the O 2 cascade from air to cell that ultimately effects O 2 availability and O 2 sensing at the cellular level.

T 1 -based determination of perfusion was performed with the high temporal and spatial resolution that monitoring of exercise physiology requires. As no data were available on the validation of this approach in human muscles, T 1 -based NMRI of perfusion was compared to standard strain-gauge venous occlusion plethysmography performed simultaneously within a 4 T magnet. Two different situations were investigated in 21 healthy young volunteers: 1) a 5-min ischemia of the leg, or 2) a 2-3 min ischemic exercise consisting of a plantar flexion on an amagnetic ergometer. Leg perfusion was monitored over 5-15 min of the recovery phase, after the air-cuff arterial occlusion had been released. The interesting features of the sequence were the use of a saturation-recovery module for the introduction of a T 1 modulation and of single-shot spin echo for imaging. Spatial resolution was 1.7 ؋ 2.0 mm and temporal resolution was 2 s. For data analysis, ROIs were traced on different muscles and perfusion was calculated from the differences in muscle signal intensity in successive images. To allow comparison with the global measurement of perfusion by plethysmography, the T 1 -based NMR measurements in exercising muscles were rescaled to the leg cross-section.

Skeletal muscle voluntary contractions (VC) and electrical stimulations (ES) were compared in eight healthy men. High-energy phosphates and myoglobin oxygenation were simultaneously monitored in the quadriceps by interleaved (1)H- and (31)P-NMR spectroscopy. For the VC protocol, subjects performed five or six bouts of 5 min with a workload increment of 10% of maximal voluntary torque (MVT) at each step. The ES protocol consisted of a 13-min exercise with a load corresponding to 10% MVT. For both protocols, exercise consisted of 6-s isometric contractions and 6-s rest cycles. For an identical mechanical level (10% MVT), ES induced larger changes than VC in the P(i)-to-phosphocreatine ratio [1.38 +/- 1.14 (ES) vs. 0.13 +/- 0.04 (VC)], pH [6.69 +/- 0.11 (ES) vs. 7.04 +/- 0.07 (VC)] and myoglobin desaturation [43 +/- 15.9 (ES) vs. 6.1 +/- 4.6% (VC)]. ES activated the muscle facing the NMR coil to a greater extent than did VCs when evaluated under identical technical conditions. This metabolic pattern can be interpreted in terms of specific temporal and spatial muscle cell recruitment. Furthermore, at identical levels of energy charge, the muscle was more acidotic and cytoplasm appeared more oxygenated during ES than during VC. These results are in accordance with a preferential recruitment of type II fibers and a relative muscle hyperperfusion during ES.

Quantitative NMRI and (31)P NMRS indices are reported in the forearms of 24 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) (6-18 years, 14 non-ambulant) amenable to exon 53 skipping therapy and in 12 age-matched male controls (CONT). Examinations carried out at 3 T comprised multi-slice 17-echo measurements of muscle water T2 and heterogeneity, three-point Dixon imaging of fat fraction in flexor and extensor muscles (FLEX, EXT), and non-localised spectroscopy of phosphate metabolites. We studied four imaging indices, eight metabolic ratios combining ATP, phosphocreatine, phosphomonoesters and phosphodiesters, the cytosolic inorganic phosphate (Pia ) and an alkaline (Pib) pool present in dystrophic muscle, and average pH. All indices differed between DMD and CONT, except for muscle water T2 . Measurements were outside the 95th percentile of age-matched CONT values in over 65% of cases for percentage fat signal (%F), and in 78-100% of cases for all spectroscopic indices. T2 was elevated in one-third of FLEX measurements, whereas %pixels > 39 ms and T2 heterogeneity were abnormal in one-half of the examinations. The FLEX muscles had higher fat infiltration and T2 than EXT muscle groups. All indices, except pH, correlated with patient age, although the correlation was negative for T2 . However, in non-ambulant patients, the correlation with years since loss of ambulation was stronger than the correlation with age, and the slope of evolution per year was steeper after loss of ambulation. All indices except Pi/gATP differed between ambulant and non-ambulant patients; however, T2 and %pixels > 39 ms were highest in ambulant patients, possibly owing to the greater extent of inflammatory processes earlier in the disease. All other indices were worse in non-ambulant subjects. Quantitative measurements obtained from patients at different disease stages covered a broad range of abnormalities that evolved with the disease, and metabolic indices were up to 10-fold above normal from the onset, thus establishing a variety of potential markers for future therapy.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe muscle-wasting disorder caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, without curative treatment yet available. Our study provides, for the first time, the overall safety profile and therapeutic dose of a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector, serotype 8 (rAAV8) carrying a modified U7snRNA sequence promoting exon skipping to restore a functional in-frame dystrophin transcript, and injected by locoregional transvenous perfusion of the forelimb. Eighteen Golden Retriever Muscular Dystrophy (GRMD) dogs were exposed to increasing doses of GMP-manufactured vector. Treatment was well tolerated in all, and no acute nor delayed adverse effect, including systemic and immune toxicity was detected. There was a dose relationship for the amount of exon skipping with up to 80% of myofibers expressing dystrophin at the highest dose. Similarly, histological, nuclear magnetic resonance pathological indices and strength improvement responded in a dose-dependent manner. The systematic comparison of effects using different independent methods, allowed to define a minimum threshold of dystrophin expressing fibers (>33% for structural measures and >40% for strength) under which there was no clear-cut therapeutic effect. Altogether, these results support the concept of a phase 1/2 trial of locoregional delivery into upper limbs of nonambulatory DMD patients.

Adult late-onset Pompe disease is most often a slowly progressive limb-girdle and spine extensor muscle dystrophy, due to defective lysosomal acid maltase. With the exception of the few patients who present with a dramatically accelerated clinical course, standard diagnostic imaging fail to detect and evaluate disease progression between two successive visits. In muscle dystrophy of very rapid evolution, like the Duchenne disease, quantitative NMR imaging has successfully demonstrated its capacity to objectivate both disease activity and degenerative changes progression over short follow-up periods. The purpose of this retrospective monocentric open-label study was to investigate whether quantitative NMR imaging can monitor disease progression in adult Pompe patients despite its very slow nature. Quantitative imaging of Pompe patients succeeded in demonstrating that muscle fatty infiltration increased on average by 0.9 %/year, with the hamstring and adductor muscles showing the fastest degradation. Muscle water T2 mapping revealed that 32 % of all muscles had abnormally high T2 in at least one of two successive examinations. When muscle water T2 was abnormal, fatty degenerative changes were further increased by 0.61 %/year. Enzyme replacement therapy resulted in 0.68 %/year slowdown of the muscle fatty infiltration, in both muscles with normal and high T2s.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10545-015-9825-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Objective: To explore the value of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and functional assessments for follow-up of ambulatory and nonambulatory patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).Methods: Twenty-five 53-skippable patients with DMD were included in this study; 15 were nonambulatory at baseline. All patients underwent clinical and functional assessments every 6 months using the Motor Function Measure (MFM), hand grip and key pinch strength, MoviPlate, and NMR spectroscopy and imaging studies.Results: Upper limb distal strength decreased in nonambulatory patients over the period of 1 year; ambulatory patients showed improvement during the same period. The same applied for several NMRS indices, such as phosphocreatine/adenosine triphosphate, which decreased in older patients but increased in younger ambulatory patients. Fat infiltration in the upper limbs increased linearly with age. Almost all NMR and functional assessment results correlated. Conclusions:Our results underscore complementarity of functional and NMR assessments in patients with DMD. Sensitivity to change of various indices may differ according to disease stage. MFM 5 Motor Function Measure; NMR 5 nuclear magnetic resonance; NMRI 5 nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; NMRS 5 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; PCr 5 phosphocreatine; Pi 5 inorganic phosphate; Pia 5 cytosolic inorganic phosphate; Pib 5 anomalous alkaline pool present in dystrophic muscle; PDE 5 phosphodiester; PME 5 phosphomonoester; TR 5 repetition time.