Myostatin Blocker For Bodybuilders Muscle Growth
(PNAS, 102: 18117-18122, 2005)..
Genes control muscle growth and repair. lnsulin.iike growth factor (IGF-1), growth hormone, insulin and testosterone are anabolic hormones under genetic control that promote increases in muscle strength and size. A chemical called myostatin under the control of the myostatin
gene acts as a balance and inhibits muscle growth.
The most likely targets for gene doping will be to inject genes that suppress myostatin activity. Scientists have per- fected the technique in cattle, mice and fish, so it is only a matter of time before they try it in humans. An exciting study of a five-year-old boy with a
mutant myostatin gene who has muscles twice the size of normal children shows the potential for myostatin manipulations in humans.
Mice carrying a mutated myostatin gene have twice the muscle size as normal mice. Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medical School found a myostatin blocker called ACVR2B that increased rat skeletal muscle size by 60 percent in two weeks. The study is a preview of what might happen when "gene doping" becomes a reality in sports.
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