PZ Myers. 2004 Jun 25. More Mighty Mouse pictures. <http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/more_mighty_mouse_pictures/>. Accessed 2008 Dec 04.

Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Friday, June 25, 2004

More Mighty Mouse pictures

I got a request for a few more pictures of the muscle-bound mouse from the McPherron et al. paper, so here they are. The topmost picture in each pair is of a wild-type mouse, while the one below it is the myostatin mutant.

The hindlimb:

hindlimb

Pecs:

pectoral muscles

McPherron AC, Lawler AM, Lee SJ (1997) Regulation of skeletal muscle mass in mice by a new TGF-β superfamily member. Nature 387(6628):83-90.

Posted by PZ Myers on 06/25 at 06:20 PM
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  1. Incredible pictures!
    If you have more, then please send me some. I am especially interested in the belgian blue cattles.

    Sincerely

    Peter
    #: Posted by  on  06/30  at  04:00 PM
  2. this myosatin... is it some kind of steroid?
    #: Posted by  on  08/31  at  03:08 AM
  3. No, it's a regulatory protein.
    #: Posted by PZ Myers  on  08/31  at  05:44 AM
  4. so it's something normally found in the body? then what the heck happened to the second rat?
    #: Posted by  on  08/31  at  04:26 PM
  5. Myostatin is a negative regulator of muscle growth. It acts as a brake or governor, making sure that only as much muscle as you actually need and use develops. The mutant mouse has had its myostatin gene damaged so that it is nonfunctional, so it's like cutting the brake lines—muscle growth is out of control, and proceeds at a relatively unregulated rate.
    #: Posted by PZ Myers  on  08/31  at  05:25 PM
  6. how fast did this muscle growth kick in? and what ended up happening to the rat... did it's muscles eventually grow too big for it's skin or what?
    #: Posted by  on  09/01  at  03:19 AM