Fig. 5

Felodipine enhances differentiation in wild-type, but not dystrophin-deficient myotubes. Felodipine increases utrophin and myogenin gene expression in a C2C12 wild-type myotubes, but not b mdx myotubes (n = 3–8) after 48 h of treatment (sarcospan gene expression data from the previous figure). c, d Felodipine does not increase fusion index (nuclei in myosin heavy chain positive area/total nuclei in field) in wild-type or mdx myotubes, e, f but does induce the formation of hypertrophic wild-type myotubes. Gene expression was calculated using the ddCt method and normalized to β-actin with vehicle-treated cells serving as the calibrator sample. UTRN, utrophin; MYOG, myogenin; MYF5, myogenic factor 5; MHC, myosin heavy chain. Scale bar, 200 μm. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001