Thicker Hair, Bigger Penis produced by Researchers
Article by HairlossTalk.com
February 24, 2004
An article by ScienceDaily announces that overexpressing a certain gene resulted in thicker hair growth in mice, as well as smoother and longer penis!
You heard right... a transgenic mouse designed to grow more hair than other mice has provided University of Southern California researchers with some surprising results, and insight into the development and regulation of growth in epithelial organs that extend beyond skin and hair.
In an upcoming paper in the American Journal of Pathology-now available online-Cheng-Ming
Chuong, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of
USC, and his colleagues describe the creation of a mouse in which a particular
gene, called "noggin" is overexpressed in the skin. (Noggin works by suppressing
the action of a protein called bone morphogenic protein, or BMP, which has a key
role in a number of developmental pathways in mice and humans alike.)
Thicker Hair...
Because of the role that noggin appears to play in the development of skin and
associated features, Chuong and his Keck School colleagues expected to see an
increase in the number of hair follicles in the skin of the genetically modified
mouse.
That is, indeed, what they saw. Not only was the fur of these mice thicker, with
hair follicle density increasing by as much as 80 percent in the transgenic mice,
but the transgenic mice also grew more whiskers than normal mice, with several
whiskers sprouting from each follicle. That, however, was only the beginning.
The overexpression of the noggin gene also led to some unusual and unexpected
changes in the mice.
For instance, the meibomian glands in the eyes of the transgenic mice were transformed
into follicles with small hairs "pointing inwards toward the cornea," Chuong explains.
(Meibomian glands are the oil-producing glands that lubricate the eyelids in humans
as well as mice; an infection in the meibomian gland is what we call a stye.)
As if hairy eyes weren't enough, the sweat glands on the footpads of the mice's
paws turned into hair-sprouting follicles as well. And some of them sported misshapen
claws, or were missing claws altogether.
...and a Bigger Penis?
While doing physical exams on the mice, Maksim Plikus, a graduate student in Chuong's
lab, noticed one more unusual change in the transgenic mice: Their external genitalia
were significantly larger than those of normal mice. "We now think that noggin
plays a role in regulating the size of penile and clitoral tissues in mice, and
that it can disrupt the balanced growth of these structures and result in their
overgrowth," Chuong explains.
The changes in the genitalia aren't limited to size, however. Whereas the surface
of the normal mouse penis has well-differentiated microappendages called "hairy
spines," the transgenic mouse's penis is smoother, less bumpy.
"We don't know whether this affects sensation," says Chuong. "But we do know that
they have the ability to reproduce."
But how safe...?
The researchers also considered whether or not these changes are physical variations
or actual pathologies (disease states brought on by the genetic tinkering done
on these mice). "Some of the features, like the complete loss of claws or hair
growth in the eyelids, are definitely pathological," Chuong admits. "But some
of the others, like the increase in size in the genitalia or the increased thickness
of the fur, may be variations that might not be negative, particularly when the
environment changes. For instance, too many hairs on a human would be considered
abnormal. But when it occurred in the mammoth thirty thousand years ago, it was
considered an advantage." "This makes one ponder the border between normal and
abnormal," Chuong adds.
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Aside from providing a fascinating look at how the unexpected plays out in science,
this transgenic mouse will have more concrete applications, says Chuong. "In the
era of tissue engineering," he and his colleagues write in their paper, "one may
want to modulate the number, size or the differentiation status of some ectodermal
organs in humans or animals for various medical, agricultural and industrial reasons.
The newly made transgenic mouse can be a useful animal model and tissue source
for these analyses and evaluations."
Maksim Plikus, Wen Pin Wang, Jian Liu, Xia Wang, Ting-Xin Jiang, and Cheng-Ming Chuong, "Morpho-Regulation of Ectodermal Organs: Integument Pathology and Phenotypic Variations in K14-Noggin Engineered Mice through Modulation of Bone Morphogenic Protein Pathway." American Journal of Pathology, 2004 164: 1099-1114.
HLT
Editor's Note: As you can see in the comments below, one of our users rightfully
asked "has april fools come early this year or is this for real". Its for real.
Keep in mind, tinkering with genes can do a lot of amazing things. The safety
factor is key however. Another good lesson for those of us prone to jumping bandwagon
hair loss treatments. Just because dumping solvents on your head may make hair
grow, doesn't mean its safe, or smart, or something that can be responsibly provided
to the public. This is just research that found something interesting and new.
As mentioned above, the safety factor is still a major obstacle.
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HairlossTalk spoke with Maksim Plikus, owner of www.clonemyhair.com, and participant
in this study, about the photos above.
HairlossTalk: I assume WT is the unaffected mouse and K14N is
the genetically altered one?
Maksim Plikus: Yes, that is correct.
HairlossTalk: What are we seeing in the comparison photos of
the entire mice, laying side by side? The one on the right looks like hell compared
to the one on the left.
Maksim Plikus: The one on the right
is actually the mutant mouse. The thing is that the Noggin protein that we altered
in this mouse caused a lot of changes. Many of them are bad. Affected mice actually
look smaller and weaker compared to the normal. However, at the same time, changes
in some parts of the body are beneficial. Such as increase in the hair density
and the penis size. The take home message is like this: we can learn from
this mouse what kind of changes to expect from mis-expression of Noggin, and apply
Noggin only to the parts of the body where it causes beneficial changes (penis,
scalp hair), not all over.
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