Muscular Dystrophy Essay

Muscular dystrophy is a type of hereditary disorder that can cause muscle weakness and can ultimately lead to the decay of skeletal muscles. A diagnosis of this disease can create a reduced quality of life and the inability to perform basic day-to-day function. Since this disease is genetic and is caused by a mutation, it is more likely for an individual to be diagnosed if a previous member of the family has had it before. The most common type of muscular dystrophy is known as Duchenne Muscualr dystrophy or DMD. French neurologist Guillame Duchenne first described this first type of disorder in the 1860s, but not until the 1980s there was little information about what caused any kind of muscular dystrophy (Muscular Dystrophy Assoc). Duchenne MD is one of the most common out of other muscular dystrophies. DMD is a unique disorder in the fact that it affects younger individuals, mostly boys, sooner in life which can leave them wheel-chair bound and no make it to their thirties (Newman, Tim).
“In Duchenne muscular dystrophy, dystrophin is almost totally absent; the less dystrophin that is …show more content…
The main purpose for research to be conducted for this deadly disease is to slow the process of muscle degeneration in the skeletal muscles and to hopefully provide a solution of lack of dystrophin in many patients. “There are hundreds of mutations in the dystrophonin gene that can lead to the disease, but in 60 percent of people with Duchenne, their mutation will occur within a specific hot spot of the gene” (Vogt-James). The type of researching platform developed by UCLA scientists focuses on the one “hot spot” or the specific location where genetic mutation of the dystrophin gene occurs