Fig. 1

a Relative expression levels of miRNAs in dog muscle. Expression levels of miR-1, miR-133a, miR-206, miR-222 and miR-486 were determined in 9-month-old healthy (n = 5) and GRMD (n = 3) dog muscle by real-time PCR and were normalized to RNU6B levels. Results are indicated as relative expression and are presented as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05. b miR-206 and miR-486 localization in healthy and GRMD dog skeletal muscle. The tissue localization was assayed by in situ hybridization on Biceps femoris muscle cryosections derived from healthy and GRMD dogs, using digoxigenin labelled LNA probes. Representative images are shown. Upper panel: miR-206 expression. In healthy dog muscle, miR-206 expression is detected in cytoplasmic processes of vessel endothelial cells (black arrow) and around some peripheral nuclei (empty arrow head) of muscle fibres. In GRMD dog muscle, a strong signal is detected in myoblasts (black arrow head) and regenerating MyHCd⁺ fibres (asterisk). Lower panel: miR-486 expression. In healthy dog muscle, miR-486 is detected both in endothelial cells (black arrow) and around peripheral nuclei (empty arrow head). In GRMD dog muscle, miR-486 is localized in myoblasts (black arrow head) and regenerating fibres (asterisk). Scale bar = 25 μm