Article
Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 423, 526-530 (2012)
[DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2012.05.159]
Breath isoprene: muscle dystrophy patients support the concept of a pool of isoprene in the periphery of the human body
Julian King, Pawel Mochalski, Karl Unterkofler, Gerald Teschl, Martin Klieber, Markus Stein, Anton Amann, and Matthias Baumann
Breath isoprene accounts for most of the hydrocarbon removal via exhalation and is thought to serve as a non-invasive
indicator for assaying several metabolic effects in the human body. The primary objective of this paper is to introduce
a novel working hypothesis with respect to the endogenous source of this compound in humans: the idea that skeletal muscle
tissue acts as an extrahepatic production site of substantial amounts of isoprene. This new perspective has its roots in
quantitative modeling studies of breath isoprene dynamics under exercise conditions and is further investigated here by
presenting pilot data from a small cohort of late stage Duchenne muscle dystrophy patients (median age 21, 4 male, 1 female).
For these prototypic test subjects isoprene concentrations in end-tidal breath and peripheral venous blood range between
0.09-0.47 nmol/l and 0.11-0.72 nmol/l respectively, amounting to a reduction by a factor of 8 and more as compared to
established nominal levels in normal healthy adults. While it remains unclear whether isoprene can be ascribed a
direct physiological mechanism of action, some indications are given as to why isoprene production might have evolved
in skeletal muscle.
Keywords: exhaled breath analysis, isoprene, skeletal muscle, muscular dystrophy
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