A researcher at Johns Hopkins, Se-Jin Lee, M.D., Ph.D., was the first to discover the fact that mice and humans who lack a protein called myostatin developed oversized muscles. Now he has discovered a second protein called follistatin. When follistatin is over produced in mice who lack myostatin, the muscle building result is doubled.

The actual results of the study show that mice that do not have the gene responsible for making myostatin have about two times the amount of muscle as mice who do have the gene. Those same mice who do not have the myostatin gene who also overproduce follistatin have close to four times as much muscle as regular mice.

The research included using follistatin to block myostatin activity in muscle cells grown under lab conditions. Then he gave the follistatin to normal mice and the results were that these mice had an increase in muscle exactly the same way it would if the mice had the myostatin gene shut off.

The next step was to genetically engineer a mouse that not only lacked the myostatin gene, but also made extra follistatin. The idea was to see of follistatin was increasing muscle growth just by blocking myostatin. If that was the case, then when they gave the follistatin to mice who did not have myostatin, there would have been no effect. But as in seen in the results, it did have an effect.

These results show that there is a much more extensive capacity to increase muscle growth by using this type of pathway than they could ever have thought there would be. The next step is going to be to look for other proteins that will interact with myostatin in order to learn just what the full potential is for enhancing muscle growth.

This is a very significant finding because other agents that are targeting this pathway, which happens to include one drug that is currently under study in a clinical trial for muscular dystrophy are only designed to block myostatin.

Dr. Lee, who is a professor of molecular biology and genetics feels that being able to increase muscle would lead to livestock with more muscle and in what would be a great medical achievement, lead to muscle development in muscular dystrophy patients as well as patients with other types of muscle wasting diseases.

The research was funded by grants from the NIH and the Muscular Dystrophy Association and by a gift from Merck Research Laboratories.

Source:
Johns Hopkins - http://www.newswise.com/ 

Read More:

For more research on potential MD treatments, see Experimental Drug Targets Muscular Dystrophy Cause.

For information on the different types of MD, see Types of Muscular Dystrophy.

For information and advice on the United States health care system, see Navigating the Healthcare System.

For a report on the fall 2007 World Congress & Exposition on Disabilities, see Future Is Now: World Congress on Disabilities.