A "mighty mouse" with double the normalmuscle 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.




据英国《每日邮报》11月11日报道，科学家在寻找治疗老年性疾病的方法时，创造出了一种肌肉力量是平时两倍的"大力鼠"。

这种老鼠不但肌肉较大，而且在试验中能在跑步机上奔跑平常两倍的距离。
瑞士科学家通过调整老鼠的一种基因创造出了"超强马拉松老鼠"，他们发现缺少了这种基因后啮齿类动物的肌肉会增大并且有更多的能量。

他们认为，如果该试验能适用于人类，将或许能找出治疗造成老年人肌消耗以及诸如肌萎缩这类绝症的方法。肌消耗会经常导致摔跤和骨折。


洛桑联邦理工学院的研究人员发现了一种名为NCoR1的微型抑制剂，可能会影响我们肌肉强度和力度。
随后科学家们将开发出一种可能产生类似功效（指增大肌肉的强度和力度）的药物。

他们通过对老鼠进行转基因改造，阻止它的生长，克制了能正常干预肌肉生长的酶。
他们发表在《细胞》上的研究显示，去除这种基因后老鼠并未出现任何不良反应。

"马拉松老鼠"跑得更快更久，所跑的距离是普通老鼠的两倍，而且耐寒力也更好。

同样的实验在蠕虫身上也得到了类似的结果。科学家们相信这种基因改造的方法是可以适用于人类的。

• normal [´nɔ:məl] a.正规的 n.正常状态 (初中英语单词)
• muscle [´mʌsəl] n.肌肉；体力；力量 (初中英语单词)
• responsible [ri´spɔnsəbəl] a.尽责的；责任重大的 (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
• journal [´dʒə:nəl] n.日记；日报；杂志 (初中英语单词)
• muscular [´mʌskjulə] a.肌肉的；强有力的 (高中英语单词)
• repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
• elderly [´eldəli] a. 较老的，年长的 (英语四级单词)
• adverse [´ædvə:s] a.不利的；反对的 (英语四级单词)
• modification [,mɔdifi´keiʃən] n.变更；修正；缓和 (英语四级单词)
• incurable [in´kjuərəbəl] a.不能治疗的 (英语六级单词)
• normally [´nɔ:məli] ad.正常情况下；通常 (英语六级单词)
• applied [ə´plaid] a.实用的，应用的 (英语六级单词)