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Jax
mice to fly on space shuttle mission
The Jackson Laboratory
December 5, 2001
BAR HARBOR, Maine - JAX® Mice from the Jackson Laboratory
are on a mission. Specifically, a dozen C57BL/6J mice
from the Jackson Laboratory will be on board the space
shuttle Endeavor for NASA mission STS-108, as part of
an experiment to test a new treatment for bone loss.
The mission, delayed for several days, is now scheduled
to launch from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday
December 5.
The
experiment is being coordinated by BioServe Space Technologies,
a non-profit, NASA-sponsored Commercial Space Center
(CSC) located at the University of Colorado and at Kansas
State University. Shortly before the launch, half the
mice will be treated with osteoprotegerin (OPG), a naturally
occurring protein that is being tested as a treatment
by the biotechnology company Amgen, with the other half
receiving a placebo. Following the 10-day mission, the
mice will be examined to determine whether OPG abated
the bone loss that normally occurs in the microgravity
environment of the space shuttle.
Space
travel is hard on the bones. Like long-term bed rest,
space flight prevents the normal mechanical loading
of bone. The effects of gravity are reduced up to 1
million-fold during orbital space flight. Astronauts
on extended stays on the Mir space station resulted
in losses of bone mass of as much as 20 percent. For
that very reason, space makes an excellent laboratory
for observing the progression of bone loss at an accelerated
pace.
And
mice happen to be the ideal experimental subjects for
studying bone loss. Research at the Jackson Laboratory
has shown that certain inbred strains of mice are more
susceptible to low bone density, bone loss, or the porous
bone disease known as osteoporosis, and are thus good
models for genetic studies of those conditions.
The
mouse strain that was selected for this experiment,
designated C57BL/6J, which was developed by Jackson
Laboratory founder Dr. Clarence Cook Little around 1920,
is the single most widely used inbred strain in biomedical
research today. C57BL/6J mice have relatively low bone
density, and are also used in a wide variety of other
research areas including cardiovascular biology, developmental
biology, diabetes and obesity, genetics, immunology,
neurobiology, and sensorineural research.
According
to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 8 million American
women and 2 million men have osteoporosis, and some
18 million more have low bone density. Osteoporosis,
or porous bone, is a disease characterized by low bone
mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue, leading
to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to
fractures of the hip, spine, and wrist. An average of
24% of hip fracture patients age 50 and over die in
the year following their fracture.
The
Jackson Laboratory is the world’s largest mammalian
genetics research facility, and also serves a key role
in the global scientific community as the provider of
critical genetic resources and as a center for training
present and future scientists. Each year, the Laboratory
supplies virtually every major university, medical school,
and research laboratory in the world with approximately
2 million JAX® mice from more than 2,500 varieties,
97% of which are available only from the Jackson Laboratory.
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