A new microscopy technology allows scientists to view single molecules in living animals at higher-than-ever resolution, and in a trial run has revealed new findings on the causes of muscular dystrophy.
Dubbed “Complementation Activated Light Microscopy” (CALM), the new technology allows imaging resolutions that are an order of magnitude finer than conventional optical microscopy, providing new insights into the behavior of biomolecules at the nanometer scale.
In a paper published on Sept. 18 by Nature Communications, the researchers behind CALM used it to study dystrophin – a key structural protein of muscle cells – in Caenorhabditis elegans worms used to model Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most severe and most common form of the degenerative disease.
The researchers showed that dystrophin was responsible for regulating tiny molecular fluctuations in calcium channels while muscles are in use. The discovery suggests that a lack of functional dystrophin alters the dynamics of ion channels – helping to cause the defective mechanical responses and the calcium imbalance that impair normal muscle activity in patients with muscular dystrophy.
