Fig. 1

RANK expression in dystrophic skeletal muscles. a A quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that muscle RANK expression is increased by 5.5-fold in dystrophic EDL muscles relative to control. b Confocal images demonstrating the colocalization of dystrophin (green) and RANK (red) at the basal lamina in EDL muscles from C57BL/6 mice. As expected, dystrophin is not expressed in EDL muscles from mdx mice while dystrophin and RANK proteins are absent in EDL muscles from mdx-RANK^mko mice. H&E staining revealed that EDL muscles from mdx-RANK^mko mice had a lesser number of irregular fiber sizes and accumulation of perimysial connective tissue compared with mdx-RANK^f/f muscles. Data are shown as mean +/− s.e.m. * Significantly different from control C57 EDL muscles, p < 0.05, n = 3, Student’s t-test. Scale bar = 100 μm