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Losartan might protect against disuse muscle atrophy (in mice). |
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EurekAlert: Next, the researchers conducted disuse experiments to find out if losartan, in addition to improving muscle regeneration, might have even broader clinical applications in the protection against immobilization atrophy. Again, using 21-month-old mice, half treated with losartan and half not, the team this time clipped the hind right foot of the mice to their knees, immobilizing just the shin muscles; otherwise, the mice were normally active. After 21 days, the animals' shin muscles were weighed and compared under a microscope. The animals not treated with losartan lost 20 percent of the mass of their immobilized shin muscles. However, the losartan-treated animals lost virtually no mass, according to Tyesha Burks, a graduate student of Human Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "When we saw that the loss of muscle fibers was completely prevented by losartan therapy, it was quite mind-blowing," Cohn says.
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