A Methuselah of Mice Dies in Lab

Newsday.com ^ | Jan. 17, 2003 | Associated Press

[FairOpinion]

The dwarf mouse, otherwise known as GHR-KO 11C, died Jan. 8 after living the equivalent of 180 to 200 human years, said Andrzej Bartke, a physiologist who worked with the mouse.

[FairOpinion]

Maybe Strom Thurmond is just "middle-aged".

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[MedicalMess]

Mouse engineered not to respond to hormones...

Hormones dampen immune system response as is evident in adolescent humans skin conditions and 1700% increases of some infections in pregnant woman.

Diabetic conditions are caused by either, both, or more pathogens than clostridium and E. coli.

Therefore by making a mouse none responsive to hormones they maximized the immune system potential to thwart disease.

Very interesting.

My estimate for human longevity increases in a disease free environment was 140 years... I could be drastically short on my estimate.

[jennyp]

The rodent was genetically engineered not to respond to a growth hormone, a possible reason behind its longevity, Bartke said. He added that the mouse's low levels of insulin and glucose might also have had something to do with its long life.

aHA - score one for the low-carb diet!

[Judith Anne]

Interesting. I read somewhere, years ago, that one of the few things shown to prolong life in mammals was very low calorie intake in the very early part of life, and low intake of food thereafter...

[SpringheelJack]

The article said he was engineered not to respond to a "growth hormone". An inkling of the future?

Are we destined to become 200 year-old midgets?

Brave New World!

[monkeyshine]

My estimate for human longevity increases in a disease free environment was 140 years... I could be drastically short on my estimate.

Oh dear, you are a medical mess.

[HiTech RedNeck]

At 4 years, 11 months and three weeks old, the lab mouse lived about twice as long as its species' average of 2 to 2 1/2 years, and more than eight months longer than its closest rival at SIU.

"This mouse was just amazing," Bartke said.

Highly extended extreme life spans in animals are nothing new. Most cats have gone to "chase mice in heaven" by the age of 16 or so. But once in a blue moon one of these little critters will make it to 30.

[goody2shooz]

I'm sorry I don't have a photo of Munchie, one of my tortoise-shell cats, to post here.

She is going to be 21 years old this coming June 2003. Never been vaccinated, she's a lifelong indoor kittie.

[BnBlFlag]

My female cat is 22. Oddly enough, she's an outside cat (except for a cat door in the garage).

[savedbygrace]

Must be an optical mouse. I never could get that kind of life out of a roller-ball mouse.

[strela]

A Mr. Jingles BUMP.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Somewhere a long suffering graduate student is laughing his butt of with his buddies....
"I musta replaced that stupid mouse five times, and the prof never caught on..."