Myoglobin and Muscular Dystrophy

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Abstract
THE muscular dystrophies are inherited diseases, presumably due to abnormality of a protein which is either completely lacking or so altered by genetic defect that it is functionally inadequate. There is no satisfactory clue to the nature of this fault, but there has been difference of opinion regarding the state of myoglobin. In 1961, Whorton and his associates1,2 first reported that the absorption spectrum of myoglobin from dystrophic muscle is abnormal in the range of visible light, implying an abnormality of structure. Soon afterwards, Miyoshi et al3 reported that they found no spectral abnormality in the visible range, but that there were differences in the absorption of ultraviolet light. At about the same time, Kossman et al4 and Benoit5,6 described rapidly migrating forms of myoglobin in starch gel electrophoresis of urine during attacks of myoglobinuria; they suggested that these were either abnormal forms of the