 |
|
'Mighty mice' made mightier
August 29, 2007The Johns Hopkins scientist who first showed that the absence of the protein myostatin leads to oversized muscles in mice and men has now found a second protein, follistatin, whose overproduction in mice lacking myostatin doubles the muscle-building effect.
Results of Se-Jin Lee's new study, appearing on August 29 in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE, show that while mice that lack the gene that makes myostatin have roughly twice the amount of body muscle as normal, mice without myostatin that also overproduce follistatin have about four times as much muscle as normal mice.
Lee, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of molecular biology and genetics, says that this added muscle increase could significantly boost research efforts to "beef up" livestock or promote muscle growth in patients with muscular dystrophy and other wasting diseases.
Specifically, Lee first discovered that follistatin was capable of blocking myostatin activity in muscle cells grown under lab conditions. When he gave it to normal mice, the rodents bulked up, just as would happen if the myostatin gene in these animals was turned off. He then genetically engineered a mouse that both lacked myostatin and made extra follistatin. If follistatin was increasing muscle growth solely by blocking myostatin, then Lee surmised that follistatin would have no added effect in the absence of myostatin.
"To my surprise and delight, there was an additive effect," said Lee, who notes these muscular mice averaged a 117 percent increase in muscle fiber size and a 73 percent increase in total muscle fibers compared to normal mice.
"These findings show that the capacity for increasing muscle growth by targeting these pathways is much more extensive than we have appreciated," adds Lee. "Now we'll search for other players that cooperate with myostatin, so we can tap the full potential for enhancing muscle growth for clinical applications."
Lee adds that this issue is of particular significance, as most agents targeting this pathway, including one drug being currently tested in a muscular dystrophy clinical trial, have been designed to block only myostatin and not other related proteins.
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Specifically, Lee first discovered that follistatin was capable of blocking myostatin activity in muscle cells grown under lab conditions. When he gave it to normal mice, the rodents bulked up, just as would happen if the myostatin gene in these animals was turned off. He then genetically engineered a mouse that both lacked myostatin and made extra follistatin. If follistatin was increasing muscle growth solely by blocking myostatin, then Lee surmised that follistatin would have no added effect in the absence of myostatin.
"To my surprise and delight, there was an additive effect," said Lee, who notes these muscular mice averaged a 117 percent increase in muscle fiber size and a 73 percent increase in total muscle fibers compared to normal mice.
"These findings show that the capacity for increasing muscle growth by targeting these pathways is much more extensive than we have appreciated," adds Lee. "Now we'll search for other players that cooperate with myostatin, so we can tap the full potential for enhancing muscle growth for clinical applications."
Lee adds that this issue is of particular significance, as most agents targeting this pathway, including one drug being currently tested in a muscular dystrophy clinical trial, have been designed to block only myostatin and not other related proteins.
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Myostatin Current Events and Myostatin News RSSTreatment to improve degenerating muscle gains strength
A study appearing in Science Translational Medicine puts scientists one step closer to clinical trials to test a gene delivery strategy to improve muscle mass and function in patients with certain degenerative muscle disorders.
MU logo News Bureau University of Missouri About the News Bureau Contact Us Home / News Releases / 2009 MU Researchers Discover Target that Could Ease Spinal Muscular Atrophy Symptoms
There is no cure for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a genetic disorder that causes the weakening of muscles and is the leading genetic cause of infant death, but University of Missouri researchers have discovered a new therapeutic target that improves deteriorating skeletal muscle tissue caused by SMA. The new therapy enhanced muscle strength, improved gross motor skills and increased the lifespan in a SMA model.
Myostatin inhibitors may improve recovery of wartime limb injuries
Inhibiting a growth factor that keeps muscles from getting too big may optimize recovery of injured soldiers, researchers say.
Long-term muscle improvements shown in gene therapy study in mice
Injecting a gene responsible for making a specific protein into a mouse that's used as a model for muscular dystrophy can lead to long-term improvements in the animal's muscle size and strength, a new study shows.
Drugs to bulk up muscles may make injuries more likely
Block the action of a protein that normally regulates muscle mass, and watch your muscles grow.
More muscle for the argument to give up smoking
Researchers at The University of Nottingham have got more bad news for smokers. Not only does it cause cancer, heart attacks and strokes but smokers will also lose more muscle mass in old age than a non-smoker.
Scientists Show Drug Can Counteract Muscular Dystrophy in Mice
Scientists at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and other institutions have demonstrated for the first time that a single drug can rebuild damaged muscle in two strains of mice that develop diseases comparable to two human forms of muscular dystrophy.
A new kind of mutation could explain numerous phenotypic variations in various species
The authors describe the discovery of a novel class of mutations that disrupt the function of a gene and thereby cause a specific phenotype. The mutation created the appearance of an "illegitimate" microRNA (miRNA) recognition site in a gene that did not have it in its normal form.
Gene therapy accelerates healing of damaged skeletal muscle
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have successfully used gene therapy to accelerate muscle regeneration in experimental animals with muscle damage, suggesting this technique may be a novel and effective approach for improving skeletal muscle healing, particularly for serious sports-related injuries.
Mouse study: New muscle-building agent beats all previous ones
The Johns Hopkins scientists who first created "mighty mice" have developed, with pharmaceutical company Wyeth and the biotechnology firm MetaMorphix, an agent that's more effective at increasing muscle mass in mice than a related potential treatment for muscular dystrophy now in clinical trials.
More Myostatin Current Events and Myostatin News Articles
 |
Cytodyne Myo-blast Csp3, 120 Caps, 0.6 Bottle by Cytodyne Dietary Supplement. Myostatin Neutralizing Growth Factor Complex. Maximum Release. Grow Beyond Your Genetics: Researchers have recently learned that muscle growth is limited to a great degree by a specific protein cell Myostatin. Myo-Blast-CSP-3 contains a potent 600 mg dose of patent-pending MyoZap, making it the highest potency formula of its kind available worldwide. CSP3: Contains pure, patent-pending MyoZap CSP3, standardized to contain sulfo-polysaccharide extract from Cystoseira canariensis. (These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.) |
 |
Pro Score-Champion Nutrition Speed Muscle Recovery Formula, 4lb Chocolate (2 Pack) by Champion Nutrition Speed Muslce Recovery, Stabilize Blood Sugar, Help Burn Stored Body Fat, Support Immune Function, Improve Stress Tolerance.. |
 |
Champion Nutrition Myostim 120c, Bottle by Champion Nutrition Help you reduce myostatin levels and grow more easily.. |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |