Figure 3.

Western blot detection of α-dystroglycan (α-DG) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) in left ventricular tissue. Tissue samples from the index patient at the time of VAD implantation (III.3, 1) or at the time of VAD explantation (III.3, 2) were used. Five donor hearts (NF), five samples obtained from cardiomyopathy patients at heart transplantation (HTx), and five samples received after VAD explantation from cardiomyopathy patients (VAD-Tx) were used as controls. According to the literature, α-DG was expected to be 140 kDa and GAPDH was expected to be 37 kDa. GAPDH was observed as expected in all samples. An appropriate signal for α-DG was observed in all controls (NF, HTx, and VAD-Tx) but not in the myocardial tissue of the index patient (III.3). Fuzzy bands in the α-DG part of the Western blot were caused by differential glycosylation of α-dystroglycan.