Duchenne muscular dystrophy is associated with variable degrees of selective cognitive defect with lower scores for verbal intelligence and reading abilities. A number of findings have shown that rearrangements located in the second part of the gene seem to be preferentially associated with cognitive impairment. Several dystrophin transcripts are expressed in the brain. The more distal of them, Dp71, is predominant. We have carried out a mutational analysis of Dp 71 transcript in 12 DMD patients severely, mildly or not retarded, all without detectable deletion or duplication. We have detected five point mutations causing Dp 71 premature translation termination. All were found among the more severely mentally retarded patients of this group (VIQ < 50 and/or no reading acquisition).