(Somewhat OT)
It's amazing what you can find on the web.
First, here's this new abstract:
J Clin Invest, March 2002, Volume 109, Number 5, 595-601
Copyright ©2002 by the American Society for Clinical Investigation
Suppression of body fat accumulation in myostatin-deficient mice
Alexandra C. McPherron and Se-Jin Lee
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Address correspondence to: Se-Jin Lee, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. Phone: (410) 614-0198; Fax: (410) 955-0831; E-mail: sjlee@jhmi.edu.
Received for publication June 19, 2001, and accepted in revised form January 30, 2002.
Myostatin is a TGF-ß family member that acts as a negative regulator of muscle growth. Mice lacking the myostatin gene (Mstn) have a widespread increase in skeletal muscle mass resulting from a combination of muscle fiber hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Here we show that Mstn-null mice have a significant reduction in fat accumulation with increasing age compared with wild-type littermates, even in the setting of normal food intake (relative to body weight), normal body temperature, and a slightly decreased resting metabolic rate. To investigate whether myostatin might be an effective target for suppressing the development of obesity in settings of abnormal fat accumulation, we analyzed the effect of the Mstn mutation in two genetic models of obesity, agouti lethal yellow (Ay) and obese (Lepob/ob). In each case, loss of Mstn led to a partial suppression of fat accumulation and of abnormal glucose metabolism. Our findings raise the possibility that pharmacological agents that block myostatin function may be useful not only for enhancing muscle growth, but also for slowing or preventing the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Pretty dry stuff, no pictures, just mice...
But wait! I found some illustrations that go nicely with the abstract:
musclephotos.com
Turns out this guy Wheeler may be a myostatin knock-out: <g>
musclephotos.com
Who needs LEXG! <g>
Peter |
