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NEUROLOGY 1984;34:1192
© 1984 American Academy of Neurology

Low serum 24,25 dihydroxyvitamin D in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Yehuda A. Shapira, MD, David Patz, MB, BCh, Jacob Menczel, MD, Lydia Schwartz, MSc, Shirley Meyer, MD, Irving W. Frutkoff, BSc and Gideon Kidroni, PhD

From the Department of Pediatrics (Shapira and Patz) and Research Laboratory Department of Internal Medicine (Menczel, Schwartz, Frutkoff, and Kidroni), Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus: and Alyn Hospital (Meyer), Jerusalem, Israel.

Levels of serum 24,25(OH)₂D₃ (0.69 ± 0.17 ng/ml) were lower in DMD patients than in age-matched controls (2.13 ± 0.15 ng/ml). Circulating levels of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ and 25(OH)D₃ were within the accepted normal range. Bearing in mind the proposed pathophysiologic role of calcium in DMD and the influence of vitamin D metabolites on muscle ATP and protein synthesis, as well as on sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium transport and muscle mitochondrial calcium content, the above findings of low or deficient 24,25(OH)₂D₃ levels in DMD could be meaningful from the etiologic and therapeutic points of view.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Shapira, Pediatric Department, Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus, P.O. Box 24035, Jerusalem 91240, Israel.

Accepted for publication January 4, 1984.