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Muscling In

AgResearch sheep scientists and Otago Medical School researchers are working together on muscle development, studying sheep and humans.

John McEwan wants to know what causes muscle development and lean growth in sheep, while Dr John Harris is studying congenital muscle diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, and how foetal muscle development proceeds.

Muscle formation happens before birth, and the process is basically the same in all animals. The first stage of muscle formation happens very early in the foetus's life, when a tiny framework of primary muscle fibres is formed. McEwan is trying to discover whether this early development is significant in producing lean lambs.

His initial work has shown that muscle formation happens before 40 days after fertilisation, substantially earlier than believed. The work has involved defining muscle development time, patterns of nerve development and counting fibre sizes at different ages and sizes.

"I've found definite `land-marks' in the formation of muscles in sheep, where specific development happens at certain times in the embryo's growth," he says.

Sheep provide a better model for human research than the traditional mice. Greater understanding of muscle development in sheep could provide insights into human muscle tissue and formation, and provide a means of early detection of human muscle diseases.