BANK OF DNA, NERVE AND MUSCLE TISSUES

The Bank is part of the "Service for Neuromuscular Diagnosis and Research" of Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, University of Milan. The Bank has been operative for 26 years and consists of 4 different laboratories (morphology, biochemistry, genetics, tissue cultures) with two specifically equipped storage rooms, all related to a Department for the clinical evaluation of patients and their follow-up. All specimens - obtained after informed consent from patients affected with neuromuscular disorders - are studied step by step from the basic routine examination to the final genetic diagnosis. The Bank includes 2462 skeletal muscle, 10 cardiac muscle and 304 nerve specimens for morphological studies, 4156 muscle specimens for biochemical studies, 2284 DNA samples and 1579 samples for tissue cultures (update September 2001). All data are collected through an informatic system which keeps all the information regarding each specimen separated from the patients’ name, in respect to the patients’ privacy. Our specific web site www.centrodinoferrari.com/neuromuscolari.htm., available in both Italian and English languages, can be contacted to get all the information regarding the Bank: List of tissues and diseases, aims and purposes, collaborators, modalities for Bank access. Several Italian and one foreign hospitals signed a legal agreement allowing us to study and store their specimens. The existence of selected banks for neuromuscular samples allows the collection of a consistent number of specimens per single disease and therefore examination of the same by experienced people for both research and diagnostic purposes. In order to know more about the causes of unknown genetic diseases, all samples and data are available to the scientific community for both research and diagnostic purposes, according to the Telethon rules. In this regard, we are currently collaborating with both Italian and foreign groups.