Freeze‐fracture analysis of plasma membrane cholesterol in duchenne muscle

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Abstract
We estimated cholesterol in Duchenne muscle plasma membrane using the sterol‐specific ligand digitoing. In measuring the extent of digitonin‐cholesterol complex formation with freeze‐fracture electron microscopy, we found a significantly greater proportion of surface area taken up by complexes in Duchenne muscle (60% ± 9%) than in controls (36% ± 4%). This finding suggests that a population of Duchenne muscle fibers has a higher concentration of cholesterol in the plasma membrane. Membrane cholesterol is known to affect membrane deformability and the activity of membrane‐bound enzymes and transport proteins; thus a difference in membrane cholesterol might account for structural and functional abnormalities in Duchenne plasma membrane.

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