From such observations it may be concluded that 2 factors are of importance in the management of patients with muscular dystrophy: avoiding prolonged bed rest and encouraging the patient to maintain as full and normal a life as possible. These help prevent the rapid worsening associated with inactivity and conserve a healthy attitude of mind. Obesity should be avoided; this requires careful attention to diet. Swimming is a useful exercise. Massage and electrical stimulation are probably worthless. The education of children with muscular dystrophy should continue, with the aim of preparing them for a sedentary occupation.
Prevention by prenatal counseling is available for most dystrophies, but proper diagnosis is essential. Special centers provide the genetic and psychological services necessary to carry this out properly.
Two main classes of metabolic diseases of muscle are recognized—one is traceable to a primary, or hereditary, metabolic abnormality of the muscle itself; another in which the myopathy is secondary to a disorder of endocrine function, that is, to disease of the thyroid, parathyroid, pituitary, or adrenal gland. Yet a third group of myopathies is the result of a large variety of myotoxic drugs and other chemical agents; they are addressed separately.
The hereditary metabolic myopathies are of special interest because they reveal certain aspects of the complex chemistry of muscle fibers. Indeed, each year brings to light some new genetically determined enzymopathy of muscle. As a consequence, a number of diseases formerly classified as dystrophic or degenerative have been added to the enlarging list of metabolic myopathies. There are now so many of them that only the most representative can be presented in a textbook of neurology.
The Nature of Primary Metabolic Myopathies
The chemical energy for muscle contraction is provided by the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to adenosine diphosphate (ADP); ATP is restored by phosphocreatine and ADP acting in combination. These reactions are particularly important during brief, high-intensity exercise. During periods of prolonged muscle activity, rephosphorylation requires the availability of carbohydrates, fatty acids, and ketones, which are catabolized in mitochondria. Glycogen is the main sarcoplasmic source of carbohydrate, but blood glucose also moves freely in and out of muscle cells as needed during sustained exercise. The fatty acids in the blood, derived mainly from adipose tissue and intracellular lipid stores, constitute the other major source of energy. Carbohydrate is metabolized during aerobic and anaerobic phases of metabolism; the fatty acids are metabolized only aerobically.
Resting muscle derives approximately 70 percent of its energy from the oxidation of long-chain fatty acids. As stated earlier, the circumstances during exercise are somewhat different. During a short period of intense exercise, the muscle uses carbohydrate derived from glycogen stores; myophosphorylase is the enzyme that initiates the metabolism of glycogen. With longer aerobic exercise, blood flow to muscle and the availability of glucose and fatty acids are increased. At first, glucose is the main source of energy during exercise; later, with exhaustion of glycogen stores, energy is provided by oxidation of fatty acids. Thus, muscle failure at a certain phase of exercise is predictive of the type of energy failure. A rising blood concentration of β-hydroxybutyrate reflects the increasing oxidation of fatty acids, and an increase in blood lactate reflects the anaerobic metabolism of glucose. The cytochrome oxidative mechanisms are essential in both aerobic and anaerobic muscle metabolism; these mechanisms are considered in Chap. 36 in relation to the mitochondrial diseases in which muscle tissue is prominently involved, and they are referred to here only briefly.