Rescue of PKCθ expression in hematopoietic cells in <i>mdx/θ^−/−</i> mice restores <i>mdx</i> mice phenotype.

<p>(<b>A</b>) H/E (<b>a</b> and <b>e</b>) and esterase (<b>b</b> and <b>f</b>, arrows indicate cell infiltrates, asterisks indicate neuromuscular junctions) as well as EBD uptake (<b>c</b> and <b>g</b>) and eMyHC immunofluorescence (<b>d</b> and <b>h</b>, Hoechst was used to counterstain the nuclei) of TA cryosections derived from <i>mdx/θ^{−/−BMmdx/θ−/−}</i> (<b>a–d</b>) and from <i>mdx/θ^−/−BMmdx</i> (<b>e–h</b>) mice. Bar = 200 µm. (<b>B</b>) Extension of regenerating, eMyHC^+ve, area and of necrotic, EBD^+ve, area in <i>mdx/θ^{−/−BMmdx/θ−/−}</i> and in <i>mdx/θ^−/−BMmdx</i> expressed as the percentage in respect to the respective areas in <i>mdx</i> (assumed as 1), *<i>p<0.05</i>, n = 3/genotype; (<b>C</b>) Western Blot analysis of iNOS expression, and of NFkB and JNK expression and activation (phosphorylation) in protein extracts from TA muscle derived from <i>mdx/θ^{−/−BMmdx/θ−/−}</i> and from <i>mdx/θ^−/−BMmdx</i>; red Ponceau staining of the membrane is shown (loading) for equal loading. Representative blots are shown. The level of expression or of the activation of the above molecules was determined by densitometric analysis and expressed as fold induction in <i>mdx/θ^−/−BMmdx</i> in respect to <i>mdx/θ^{−/−BMmdx/θ−/−}</i>, assumed as 1, evaluated from 3 separate experiments (bottom). *<i>p<0.05</i> (<b>D</b>) Treadmill exercise test performed on <i>mdx/θ^{−/−BMmdx/θ−/−}</i> (squares, dotted grey line) and <i>mdx/θ^−/−BMmdx</i> (circles, grey.line) mice for a 30 min running, twice a week, for 3 weeks, as above, starting 6 weeks after transplantation (n = 3/genotype). Performance of <i>mdx</i> (triangles, black line) and <i>mdx/θ^−/−</i> (rhombi, dotted black line) mice is also reported for comparison.