Mentored training in comprehensive mouse phenotyping (K26)

描述(申请人提供)：肌营养不良症是遗传性的进行性肌肉疾病，导致严重的肌肉无力、心肌病、失去行走能力和过早死亡。心肌病是20%-30%的患者死亡的原因。有30多种不同的基因导致肌营养不良症，其中一些最常见的基因突变会影响肌营养不良蛋白糖蛋白复合体(DGC)的蛋白表达或功能。与许多遗传性疾病一样，由此产生的疾病表型是主要基因突变对肌肉和心脏的直接影响，以及影响整体肌肉和心脏功能的继发性表型和环境影响的组合。虽然运动等环境影响对健康个体的肌肉和心脏有益，因为营养不良动物的骨骼肌和心肌对肌肉损伤都很敏感，但运动对营养不良患者的疾病结局和活动建议的影响尚不清楚。由于靶向小鼠品系的出现，我们对肌肉营养不良以及许多其他遗传和获得性疾病的机制的了解有了很大的提高，这些品系概括了疾病的许多重要方面。研究小鼠心血管功能的最先进方法现在可以与许多可以在人类身上进行的成像和侵入性插管方法相媲美。这项建议的一个指导部分是指导下一代研究人员，通过开发和执行一系列模块化的、动手的短期课程和研讨会来培训研究员、研究生和独立科学家，使他们掌握最先进的综合心血管表型。这项建议的研究项目部分将利用最先进的放射遥测和心脏表型鉴定方法来1)从基因上剖析DGC功能丧失对心脏的直接影响和假定的营养不良骨骼肌周围血管功能障碍对整体心血管功能的影响之间的相互作用，以及2)确定急性和慢性运动如何影响营养不良动物心肌病进行性发展的分子和生理机制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Muscular dystrophies are inherited, progressive muscle disorders that result in severe muscle weakness, cardiomyopathy, loss of ambulation and early death. Cardiomyopathy is the cause of death in 20-30% of patients. More than 30 different genes cause muscular dystrophy with some of the most common gene mutations affecting the expression or function of the proteins of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex (DGC). Like many genetic diseases, the resulting disease phenotypes represent a combination of direct effects of the primary gene mutation on muscle and the heart, and secondary phenotypes and environmental influences that impact overall muscle and heart function. While environmental influences such as exercise are beneficial for muscle and hearts of healthy individuals, because both skeletal and cardiac muscles in dystrophic animals are sensitive to muscle injury, the impact of exercise on disease outcome and recommendations for activity in dystrophic patients are not clear. Our understanding of the mechanisms of muscular dystrophy, and many other genetic and acquired diseases, has grown considerably due to the availability of targeted mouse strains that recapitulate many important aspects of disease. State of the art approaches to study cardiovascular function in mice now rival many of the imaging and invasive catheterization methods that can be performed in humans. A mentoring portion of this proposal is to mentor the next generation of investigators in state of the art comprehensive cardiovascular phenotyping though development and execution of a series of modular, hands-on short courses and workshops to train fellows, graduate students and independent scientists. The research project portion of this proposal will take advantage state of the art radiotelemetry and cardiac phenotyping approaches to 1) genetically dissect the interplay between direct effects of loss of DGC function on the heart and the hypothesized dysfunction of the peripheral vasculature in dystrophic skeletal muscle on overall cardiovascular function and 2) Determine the molecular and physiological mechanisms of how acute and chronic exercise impact the progressive development of cardiomyopathy in dystrophic animals.