The significance of Gerta Vrbová's low-frequency stimulation experiment

Dirk Pette, remembered for his pioneering muscle research

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dirk Pette. He passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on June 4, 2022. Dirk was an outstanding professor of biochemistry at the University of Konstanz, Germany and an internationally renowned researcher in the field of skeletal muscle biology. His research on electrical stimulation has had a profound impact on our understanding of myofiber type specification and the enormous adaptive potential of skeletal muscle. Under Dirk's leadership, new biological questions in the field of neuromuscular biology have developed into multidisciplinary approaches using advanced physiological, cell biological, and biochemical techniques. Dirk's research laboratory was frequently visited by a large number of national and international collaborators who familiarized themselves with the technically demanding stimulation protocols and bioanalytical techniques to study the intricate details of the highly complex process of fast-to-slow muscle transitions. Importantly, fundamental studies on the physiological effects of changes in innervation patterns on muscle phenotype have provided the scientific evidence base for a variety of innovative clinical applications. The skeletal muscle research community has lost one of its leading figures and an outstanding teacher of protein biochemistry. He leaves an inspiring legacy in the field of basic and applied myology. Dirk will be missed by his colleagues and by many students of neuromuscular biology and beyond.

Complexity of skeletal muscle degeneration: multi-systems pathophysiology and organ crosstalk in dystrophinopathy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a highly progressive muscle wasting disorder due to primary abnormalities in one of the largest genes in the human genome, the DMD gene, which encodes various tissue-specific isoforms of the protein dystrophin. Although dystrophinopathies are classified as primary neuromuscular disorders, the body-wide abnormalities that are associated with this disorder and the occurrence of organ crosstalk suggest that a multi-systems pathophysiological view should be taken for a better overall understanding of the complex aetiology of X-linked muscular dystrophy. This article reviews the molecular and cellular effects of deficiency in dystrophin isoforms in relation to voluntary striated muscles, the cardio-respiratory system, the kidney, the liver, the gastrointestinal tract, the nervous system and the immune system. Based on the establishment of comprehensive biomarker signatures of X-linked muscular dystrophy using large-scale screening of both patient specimens and genetic animal models, this article also discusses the potential usefulness of novel disease markers for more inclusive approaches to differential diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring that also take into account multi-systems aspects of dystrophinopathy. Current therapeutic approaches to combat muscular dystrophy are summarised.

Gerta Vrbová, a guide and a friend for a generation of neuro-myologists - Her scientific legacies and relations with colleagues

Gerta Sidonová - Vrbová, (Trnava, Slovakia, November 28, 1926 - London, UK, October 2, 2020) has been a key neuroscientist, who for almost half a century has contributed important findings and hypotheses on the relationships between motoneurons and skeletal muscle fibers, in particular on the differentiation and extent of plasticity of the peculiar characteristics of the different types of fibers present in mammalian muscles. This issue, Ejtm 31 (1), 2021, opens with the personal obituary authored by Dirk Pette, who remember his lifelong collaboration with Gerta, describing the many molecular and metabolic events that occur by changing the pattern of activation of adult muscle fibers through neuromuscular low frequency electrical stimulation. To honor the many scientific legacies of Gerta Vrbová and her impact on a generation of researchers studying myology and managements of neuromuscular disorders I add here additional examples of Gerta's scientific heritage and of her relations with colleagues.