Rats born to run further have better hearts
24 January 2005
by Richard
Conan-Davies
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Rats bread to run have better heart health than normal rats. Researchers hope this may be useful for developing new therapeutic drugs for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, or develop tests to identify people most likely to develop these heart diseases as they get older. Dr. Steven Britton and Dr. Lauren Gerard Koch of the University of Michigan Medical School bred rats by selecting rats that performed best on a treadmill practice. Dr. Britton explained that as a result of breeding over 11 generations, low-heart ability rats have a very low concentration of proteins needed to produce energy. This in turn that may be the cause of the development of common diseases in humans. This research also points to the benefits of fitness as being a way to avoid some heart related problems. |
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