Research
Building New Muscle Requires Controlled Damage
Remodeling a building usually requires some degree of dismantling before new construction can begin. That principle, it now seems, also may apply to the remodeling of the body's cells. Scientists at Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa have found recently that it applies to muscle cells, which can only develop from a stemlike state into mature muscle fibers after a certain amount of their DNA has been disassembled and then rebuilt.
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New Muscle Stem Cell Found in Mice
MDA-supported scientists in France have identified a previously unknown type of muscle stem cell located in the spaces between muscle fibers in mice. They say the new cells, dubbed "PICs," may play at least as important a role in muscle regeneration and repair as satellite cells, which have been recognized as stemlike cells in muscle since the 1960s. As such, they could have implications for treatment of muscular dystrophies.
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ALS Research: Poison Dirt?
New findings suggest a possible link between dust-dwelling bacterial toxins and an elevated incidence of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in Gulf War veterans.The study blames cyanobacteria, microorganisms that live in desert sands and which can be inhaled when they’re kicked up in dust, such as when a convoy of military vehicles rumbles by. Cyanobacteria are common throughout the world in salt water, fresh water and soil.
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Follistatin Genes Strengthen Muscles in Monkeys
Four macaque monkeys that received injections of genes for a protein called follistatin into upper leg muscles experienced pronounced and durable increases in muscle size and strength with no adverse effects, say researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and Ohio State University.
Read MoreResearch Updates Summer 2009
Story includes research about: Becker muscular dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy. Scientists at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., and the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo, have successfully treated dogs with a disease closely resembling Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), using a molecular treatment strategy called exon skipping.
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ALS: A Vicious Cycle
A vicious cycle in which damage to nerve cells (neurons) in the spinal cord results in the loss of an important mechanism to protect neurons, causing more neuron loss, has been identified as a possible contributor to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Identification of this pathway opens the door to targeting it with therapeutic agents.
Read MoreSMA Research
This decade, for the first time, scientific research in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has yielded enough information to allow the pursuit of several avenues of disease treatment and prevention.Most are centered around increasing cellular levels of a protein called SMN (survival of motor neuron), first identified in the mid-1990s as the root cause of almost all cases of SMA.
Read MoreResearch Updates Winter 2009
Story includes research items about: centronuclear myopathy; Duchenne, limb-girdle, and Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophies; and spinal muscular atrophy.Missing or reduced levels of an enzyme known as neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) at its normal location on muscle-fiber membranes prevents blood vessels that supply active muscles from relaxing normally, leading to exercise-associated fatigue, says a team of researchers from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
Read MoreThe Genie’s Out of the Bottle
From the Human Genome Project to TV medical and crime shows, to an evergrowing list of genetic tests purported to diagnose diseases, trace your ancestry or predict your future, DNA seems to be the subject of the day.Even those who choose not to undergo testing find it hard to ignore. Whether or not to get tested is a personal decision. But since the DNA testing genie isn’t going back in the bottle, it’s a good idea to get to know him.
Read MoreEuropean Team Combines Stem Cells, Gene Correction to Treat DMD-Affected Mice
A European group of researchers successfully used a combination of genetic correction and stem cells to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in mice with the disease. The compound they used for the genetic correction was developed by Judith van Deutekom, then at Leiden (Netherlands) University Medical Center, with MDA support.
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