May 15, 2014 This shows C57BL/6 mice, the common strain of laboratory mouse, in a Cambridge animal house. This breed of animal was used in the 'heavy mouse' study. Credit: University of Cambridge

Scientists have created a 'heavy' mouse, the world's first animal enriched with heavy but non-radioactive isotopes - enabling them to capture in unprecedented detail the molecular structure of natural tissue by reading the magnetism inherent in the isotopes.

This data has been used to grow biological tissue in the lab practically identical to native tissue, which can be manipulated and analysed in ways impossible for natural samples. Researchers say the approach has huge potential for scientific and medical breakthroughs: lab-grown tissue could be used to replace heart valves, for example.

In fact, with their earliest research on the new in vitro tissue, the team have discovered that poly(ADP ribose) (PAR) a molecule believed to only exist inside a cell for the purpose of repairing DNA not only travels outside cells but may trigger bone mineralisation.

"It was crazy to see PAR behaving in this way; it took six months of detailed analysis and many more experiments to convince ourselves," said Dr Melinda Duer from Cambridge's Department of Chemistry, who led the study, published today in the journal Science.

"I think this is just the first of many discoveries that will stem from the heavy mouse. Isotope-enriched proteins and cells are fairly commonplace now, but the leap to a whole animal is a big one.

"The heavier nuclei in the carbon isotopes changes the rate of chemical reactions, and many people myself initially included didn't believe you could enrich a whole animal with them. But it worked beautifully," she said.

The research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and British Heart Foundation, could lead to improved success rates for medical implants and reduce the need for animals in research, as well as opening up an entirely new approach for biochemical investigation.

The team used a technique called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (NMR) that can read the magnetic nuclei found in certain isotopes, such as carbon-13 which has one neutron more than most carbon.

But carbon-13 makes up only 1% of the carbon in our bodies, nowhere near enough to do useful NMR. However, the researchers managed to get the carbon of a mouse up to 20% carbon-13.

See the original post here:
First 'heavy mouse' leads to first lab-grown tissue mapped from atomic life

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