Vitamin Therapy in Mice with an Hereditary Myopathy (Dystrophia Muscularis)

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Abstract
Seven litters of mice were bred from animals known to be heterozygous with respect to the dystrophic gene. These litters were treated parenterally with massive doses of vitamins. Treatment was initiated when the average mouse age was 7 days; at this time no dystrophic symptoms were manifest. Of the 38 mice treated, 12 developed evidence of muscular degeneration and abnormal reflexes which are associated with the dystrophic syndrome in untreated animals. This frequency (12 dystrophics per 38 mice) was greater than that observed in two untreated control litters (one dystrophic per 10 mice); however, the former incidence approximates that usually seen when large populations of untreated mice are studied. There was no indication that early vitamin therapy could prevent the appearance of such other dystrophic symptoms as skin lesions, convulsive seizures, and early death. The significance of these data is discussed as related to the hypothesis that the dystrophic syndrome may result from an hereditarily-induced vitamin deficiency.

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