科學家研製出“大力鼠” 力量是平常兩倍

A “mighty mouse” with double the normal muscle strength has been created by scientists looking for ways to treat age-related diseases.

It not only has bigger muscles but, in tests, could run for twice as long on the treadmill.

Swiss scientists created the “super strong marathon mice” by tweaking a gene and found without it the rodents’ muscles bulked up and they had more energy.

If the effects could be replicated in humans, they believe it could lead to therapies against muscle-wasting in the elderly which can lead to falls and broken bones, as well as incurable diseases such as muscular dystrophy.

Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne found that a tiny inhibitor – called NCoR1 – may be responsible for how strong and powerful our muscles are.

Scientists would then work on developing a drug which could produce a similar effect.

By genetically modifying mice to stop it working, they suppressed the enzyme which normally stops muscle from building up.

Taking it out did not appear to have any adverse effects, according to their study published today in the journal Cell.

The “marathon mice” were able to run faster, longer and cover twice as much distance as unmodified mice and were also better at putting up with cold conditions.

Similar results were found when the same experiment was repeated on worms. The scientists believe the modification could potentially be applied to humans.據英國《每日郵報》11月11日報道，科學家在尋找治療老年性疾病的方法時，創造出了一種肌肉力量是平時兩倍的“大力鼠”。

這種老鼠不但肌肉較大，而且在試驗中能在跑步機上奔跑平常兩倍的距離。

瑞士科學家通過調整老鼠的一種基因創造出了“超強馬拉松老鼠”，他們發現缺少了這種基因後齧齒類動物的肌肉會增大並且有更多的能量。

他們認爲，如果該試驗能適用於人類，將或許能找出治療造成老年人肌消耗以及諸如肌萎縮這類絕症的方法。肌消耗會經常導致摔跤和骨折。

洛桑聯邦理工學院的研究人員發現了一種名爲NCoR1的微型抑制劑，可能會影響我們肌肉強度和力度。

隨後科學家們將開發出一種可能產生類似功效(指增大肌肉的強度和力度)的藥物。

他們通過對老鼠進行轉基因改造，阻止它的生長，剋制了能正常干預肌肉生長的酶。

他們發表在《細胞》上的研究顯示，去除這種基因後老鼠並未出現任何不良反應。

“馬拉松老鼠”跑得更快更久，所跑的距離是普通老鼠的兩倍，而且耐寒力也更好。

同樣的實驗在蠕蟲身上也得到了類似的結果。科學家們相信這種基因改造的方法是可以適用於人類的。