Mice

The results of an interesting experiment in which muscled-up mice were sent into space has shed some new light on how the low-gravity environment impacts physiology, with the rodents retaining muscle mass when engineered to lack a certain protein.

A study is offering new evidence of a link between ALS and the gut microbiome. One researcher described the discovery as “remarkable”, finding genetically identical mice displayed different health outcomes determined by their gut microbiome.

An examination of the tissues ​of rodents that orbited the Earth in a Russian spacecraft revealed that the reduced load on their joints caused the breakdown of cartilage and signs of arthritis-like degradation​.

If you want to study a mouse's behaviour, then perhaps it isn't best to grab it and put it in a setting where it has to perform a certain task. That's the thinking behind Autonomouse, a cage that's designed to make life easier for lab mice, and to produce better results in behavioural studies.

Scientists have genetically engineered female mice to develop super strong, dense bones by altering neurons in the rodents' brains. The development could be the first step towards a novel treatment for the brittle bone disease osteoporosis in women.

While investigating a protein whose production is known to be elevated in a wide range of cancers, a team of researchers has inadvertently discovered a powerful new metabolic regulator that in early mouse experiments has reduced the animal's fat levels by a third.

In a remarkable proof-of-concept study, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have, for the first time, successfully used CRISPR gene-editing technology on mice in utero, to prevent the animals being born with a lethal metabolic disorder.

New research has revealed that fisetin – a natural flavonoid found in many fruits and vegetables – functions as an effective senolytic agent by clearing out damaged aging cells, improving health and extending lifespan.

It’s long been believed that cytomegalovirus (CMV) probably weakens the immune system in older people, but now mice tests have shown that the opposite is true – somehow, the virus gives the immune system a bit of a late-stage boost.

The field of optogenetics is all about using light to stimulate cells in the body. Now, researchers from Flinders University have used the technique to shine a light where the Sun don’t shine, stimulating nerves in the gut to relieve chronic constipation.

Researchers from MIT have found that fasting for just 24 hours is enough to improve the regeneration of a person’s intestinal stem cells, which naturally declines with age. Better yet, with the metabolic switch identified, in the future the effect could be mimicked with a drug.

A new study has found a way to completely stop a body’s ability to store fat. In experiments with mice, researchers showed that genetically deleting a single enzyme resulted in the animal not being able to gain weight, even when fed a fatty diet.