Science creates 'supermice' similar to Lance Armstrong
peddling_pilgrim
Posts: 12
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071101/sc_afp/ussciencehealthmice
US scientists engineer 'mighty mice' who have had offspring at 2.5 years of age, while most mice do not reproduce after they are one year old. This explains the Ashley Olsen thing.
US scientists engineer 'mighty mice' who have had offspring at 2.5 years of age, while most mice do not reproduce after they are one year old. This explains the Ashley Olsen thing.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US researchers have engineered a line of "mighty mice" whose human equivalent would have similar abilities to the bicycling champion Lance Armstrong, according to research published Thursday.
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The breed of mice can run six kilometers (four miles) at a speed of 20 meters (yards) per minute for up to six hours without stopping, according to Richard Hanson, a biochemistry professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
"They are metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong biking up the Pyrenees; they utilize mainly fatty acids for energy and produce very little lactic acid," said Hanson, the senior author of the article which was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The genetically engineered mice can eat 60 percent more than wild mice in a control group but remain slim and fit. The "mighty mice" live longer, and some females were able to reproduce much later in life than other mice.
The researchers said some "have had offspring at 2.5 years of age, an amazing feat considering most mice do not reproduce after they are one year old."
Hanson said the strength of the mice was made possible by the fact that they produce very little lactic acid, which forms during intense exercise.
Scientists bred 500 of the mice, which also showed more aggression than other mice, over the past five years as part of a project aimed at unlocking the metabolic and physiological function of PEPCK-C in muscles and tissues.
The key to their unusual traits is the over-expression of the gene that influence production of the enzyme PEPCK-C (phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinases), said Hanson.
The transgenic mice are descended from six "founder lines" that "contain a chimeric gene in which a copy of the cDNA for PEPCK-C was linked to the skeletal actin gene promoter," the research said.
The resulting mice showed different levels of PEPCK-C in their muscles, but one particularly active group had levels of PEPCK-C activity of nine units per gram of skeletal muscle, compared to just 0.08 units per gram in the muscles of control mice.
"From a very early age, the PEPCK-Cmus mice ran continuously in their cages," said Parvin Hakimi, a researcher in the Hanson lab.
The "mighty mice" primarily relied on "fatty acids as a source of energy during exercise, while the control animals rapidly switched from fatty acid metabolism to using muscle glycogen (carbohydrates) as a fuel; this dramatically raised the blood lactate levels," the research said.
The PEPCK-C enzyme was first discovered at the medical school of Case Western Reserve University in 1955, the study authors said.
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Comments
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Lance Armstrong is not a super mouse but a drug addict0
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gundersen wrote:Lance Armstrong is not a super mouse but a drug addict
Say what you think mate
I did read a theory once that the US government had used Armstrong for tests and that he was the prototype of the "Super Soldier" they wanted to breed.
Not sure that is true.0 -
Armstrong has tested positive several times in his career but always managed to get off. How come?0
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gundersen wrote:Armstrong has tested positive several times in his career but always managed to get off. How come?
I missed that, but I've only seen the past 2 TDFs on TV, that's it. Can you link to when he tested positive... what race/year/etc?0 -
I, for one, welcome our new mice overlords<a>road</a>0
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It was alleged by Equipe in 2005 that samples taken from Armstrong at the 1999 Tour, which were subsequently used for analysis into the new EPO detection methods (which did not exist in 1999) showed that he had indeed used EPO in the 1999 Tour. Because the samples used were only for analysis, there was no proper chain of custody for them, so nothing could be proved for definite. In any case, the samples were supposed to be completely anonymous although Equipe claim they know for sure they were Armstrong's.peddling_pilgrim wrote:I missed that, but I've only seen the past 2 TDFs on TV, that's it. Can you link to when he tested positive... what race/year/etc?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... aug23news3
There is other circumstantial evidence that Armstrong used doping products, including supposed confessions to his cancer doctor and intercepted conversations between team mates. None of this stuff could ever be proved, but most people have formed their own opinions about him anyway. More information available than you probably ever really want to know about the subject if you search the "Race" forum with "Armstrong" as the keyword!0 -
el_presidente wrote:I, for one, welcome our new mice overlords
Nice Brockman ref!0
