Changes of phospholipid composition within the dystrophic muscle by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and mass spectrometry imaging.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a neuromuscular disease linked to the lack of the dystrophin, a submembrane protein, leading to muscle weakness and associated with a defect of the lipid metabolism. A study of the fatty acid composition of glycerophosphatidylcholines by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) enabled us to characterize a change of the lipid composition of dystrophic cells at the time of the differentiation. This modification has been used as a marker to identify with profiling and imaging MALDI-ToF MS regenerating areas in sections of an mdx mouse leg muscle.