Although, NFG in blood of DMD studies are scarce, a previous study has shown by means of immunohistochemistry, that regenerating muscle fibers from DMD patients consistently express NGF, as do myofibroblasts and mast cells (50). By contrast, rest fibers from dystrophic patients, as well as muscle fibers from healthy, control patients and even regenerative muscle fibers in polymyositis Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical do not show NGF immunoreactivity (51, 52). Supporting this finding is a study carried out on mdx dystrophic mouse that demonstrated, by western blotting and real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR),

a higher expression of NGF and its receptor mRNA and protein in mdx brain as compared to controls (53). NFG was markedly elevated in the male mdx mouse at 8 and 11 weeks of age (54). In the present study the numbers of mononuclear cells bearing CD 45, CD34 and nestin markers were significantly increased compared to controls,

indicating that regeneration is an ongoing process in DMD patients. It can be expected that CD34 cells are present in DMD patients for tissue regeneration Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (21), but their capacity for muscle regeneration is hindered. CD34 is also important for vascular repair, and in rat model for traumatic brain injury (TBI). CD34 has Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical been shown to be mobilized from the bone marrow to peripheral blood and brain tissue, a process critical for vascular repair (55). The recruitment of hematopoietic progenitor cells from the bone marrow into the peripheral blood after acute ischemic stroke when no thrombolytic treatment was given was identified in human studies, suggesting that increased

progenitor cell recruitment might be caused by so far EVP4593 cost unknown signaling stimuli of the ischemic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical brain for stem cell mobilization (19). Results of the present study showed that mean of mononuclear cell expressing nestin surface marker was significantly higher among DMD patients compared to control. An in vitro previous study, reported that Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical nestin was found specifically in myopathic muscle fibers in Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy and myositis but was absent in controls (56). Nestin-Cre/DG null mice have been shown to exhibit earlier and more from widespread disruptions of neuronal migration and developed hydrocephalus (57). Nestin has been also shown to play an important role in remodeling and repairing in the postnatal and adult central nervous system in rat models (58) and that a subset of neural progenitors bearing nestin becomes active after injury and can compensate for the injury-induced loss of granular neurons (59). The present study cannot confirm, whether the increased expressing nestin surface marker in circulating blood is due to muscle damage or brain damage in DMD. Mononuclear cells expressing CD45 was significantly increased among DMD patients compared to controls. Cells expressing CD45 are regarded as muscle regenerating cells (60, 61). Their number increases in the presence of muscle damage (61, 62).