dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC), a large oligomeric complex of proteins and glycoproteins of the sarcolemma that is critical to the stability of muscle fiber membranes and to the linking of the actin cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. It includes dystrophin, sarcoglycans, dystroglycans, sarcospan, syntrophins, and dystrobrevin. Abnormalities of the plasma membranes of the muscle fibers that destroy this complex have been associated with several types of muscular dystrophy and with cardiomyopathy.
