We wish to study the effect of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease on the activity of the nuclear transcription pathway in peripheral skeletal muscle to determine whether altered activity of this pathway may be responsible for the muscle dysfunction observed in these patients.

Peripheral muscle dysfunction is well recognised in COPD. We wish to study patients who we have found to have weak quadriceps muscles and study the molecular mechanisms underlying this problem. Patients will be well characterised with regard to their physiologic parameters and quadriceps muscle biopsies will be taken. These biopsy samples will be analysed with respect to NFkappaB activity and HDAC activity by nuclear extraction and for muscle inflammatory cytokines. We know that in the lung tissue of COPD patients there is evidence of a reduction in HDAC activity which might be responsible for the higher levels of pronflammatory cytokines in the lung. We will also study a healthy control group and a small selection of patients who are in respiratory failure due to idiopathic scoliosis in the same way.

Inclusion Criteria:

COPD

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Exclusion Criteria:

Aspirin therapy Bleeding diasthesis Neuromuscular disease

COPD patients and healthy age-and sex-matched controls