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Scientists say an experimental treatment helped “powerful mice ”maintain healthy muscle mass during a recent stay over a period of one month.
The treatment could one day prevent the loss of muscle and bone mass in astronauts for long periods in space. It could also be used to treat people suffering from muscle or bone loss on Earth.
Astronauts in space live in an environment of microgravity or weightlessness. This environment can cause muscles and bones to weaken and lose mass over time.
The US space agency NASA has developed specialized exercise programs for astronauts living on the International Space Station. The goal of the exercises is to limit the loss of muscle and bone mass.
But these programs are likely to be ineffective for very long periods. missions planned by NASA for the future, such as extended stays on the Moon or Mars. The “Mighty Mice in Space” experiment was created to test a possible preventative treatment for muscle and bone loss during long space missions.
The project involved 40 female mice that were launched into space on a SpaceX rocket last December. The animals lived on the International Space Station for 33 days before returning to Earth in January.
Sixteen mice received the experimental treatment, which involved a genetic engineering method. The researchers extracted a gene responsible for producing myostatin, a protein that controls and can limit the growth of muscles and bones.
Mice lacking the myostatin gene, the so-called mighty mice, showed muscle growth during the experiment.
Eight of these mice had at least twice the muscle mass of the untreated mice before they were sent into space. The researchers said that during their stay on the space station, these mice maintained their muscle mass. Their muscles looked very similar to those of other powerful mice found on Earth at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The 24 mice that did not receive the treatment lost a lot of muscle and bone mass in space, the researchers reported. Those mice lost eight to 18 percent of weight in individual muscles compared to mice on Earth. They also lost up to 11 percent of bone mineral density, a measure of bone strength.
Eight of the mice received another compound from the astronauts on the space station. This compound has been found to block a protein that limits muscle and bone growth. Mice given this treatment in space gained 27 percent lean on body weight, compared to 18 percent in mice on the floor. Mice that received the compound, both in space and on the ground, also had increases in bone mineral density, the researchers found.
Some of the untreated mice received the treatments after returning to earth. They quickly built more muscle than mice not treated in the lab, the researchers reported.
The research was led by a team from the Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research center based in Bar Harbor, Maine. The results appeared recently in a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Se-Jin Lee of Jackson Laboratory was the lead author of the study. He told The Associated Press that the experiment identified additional molecules and signaling pathways related to bone and muscle loss that may need further investigation. He said he would also like to send more “mighty mice” to the space station for further study.
Lee’s wife, Emily Germain-Lee of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, was also involved in the study. Although excited by the findings, she told the AP that much more work is needed before the treatment can be tested in humans to build muscle and bone.
“We are years away. But that’s the way it is when you go from mouse studies to human studies, ”Germain-Lee said.
I am Bryan Lynn.
Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Jackson Laboratory, The Associated Press, NASA, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Mario Ritter was the editor.
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Words in this story
powerful – adj. very big, powerful or important
mission – north. an important task, which usually involves traveling somewhere
lean on – adj. slim and healthy
