A SPONTANEOUS MOUSE MODEL OF X-LINKED MYOPATHY WITH EXCESSIVE AUTOPHAGY

the subject of the thesis research project, aims to characterize a murine model for spontaneous muscle pathology comparable to human "X-Linked Vacuolar myopathy with Excessive Autophagy (XMEA)". Along with Danon disease, these myopathies are characterized by the accumulation of vacuoles within the myofiber. In 1988, Kalimo et al. have described five cases (all males) who had progressive proximal myopathy, which did not involve the heart muscle. The muscle biopsies of all patients showed numerous vacuoles, sarcoplasmic and subsarcolemmal, many of which were positive for the lysosomal enzyme, for the morphological appearance described, was proposed the term: X-Linked Vacuolar myopathy with Excessive Autophagy (XMEA). We used crosses of strain C57/BL6 mice of different ages and sex, we processed triceps muscles, quadriceps femoris and the cranial tibial muscle and made morphological, histochemical and immunohistochemical staining on this samples. From laboratory tests performed on muscle biopsies, we found the presence of numerous vacuoles within muscle fibers, only in males. All these characters are comparable to XMEA. The availability of a well characterized mouse model it may help define the etiopathogenesis of this disease.