Mice-Made Medicines?

Hold That Bladder--Science Calls!

Urine isn't something we have much use for, other than helping rid our bodies of wastes. We simply flush it and then wash our hands.

Animated mouse that opens and closes its mouth. But Dr. Bob Wall and university scientists are actually saving the stuff—from mice, that is.

It's not so much the urine they're really after as what's in it: a protein that makes a type of growth hormone normally found only in humans.

The mice make this human growth hormone in their bladders, a bag-like body part that stores urine before it leaves the body. The scientists "programmed" the mice bladders to do this using a technique called genetic engineering.

Why would they want to do this? See if you can guess the right answer:

1)	The scientists had way too much time on their hands.
2)	Dr. Wall is the mastermind behind a scheme to create super-sized mice to take over the world's supply of cheese.
3)	By experimenting with mice, scientists might find a way to collect important medicines made in the bladders of high-tech farm animals.

Wall says the most likely candidates would be genetically engineered cows, pigs, sheep or goats. The idea is much like the research behind Dolly, the high-tech sheep that made the headlines a while back.

Animated cow wearing a bell on its neck and a cap with a propeller on it. Right now, milk is the liquid of choice for collecting animal-made medicines. These can include proteins for making hormones, antibodies, and drugs like lactoferrin. This last drug helps doctors fight a stomach disease in human babies.

But getting the medicine out of the milk isn't easy, says Wall, at the ARS Gene Evaluation and Mapping Lab in Beltsville, Maryland.

Can you guess why?

1)	*Why try to get the medicine out when you can just drink* the milk?**
2)	It must be something in the milk.
3)	Ole Bossy has gone into pharmaceutical business for herself and won't give up her milk for free.

Wall thinks finding medicine-making proteins in animal urine could be a lot easier. For one, urine is mostly saltwater, with very few proteins floating around.

Plus, all animals have to "go"—-male and female, while only female animals like cows produce milk. So this should mean more medicine coming from a high-tech herd.

For now, though, it's easiest to work with mice, Wall says. He adds that more research is needed before larger animals can even be studied.

Animated graphic of drops from an eye-dropper. Animated rat or mouse nibbling on a piece of cheese. Now, back to this business of collecting mice urine... How do you get these pint-sized critters to wet where and when you want them?

How would you do it?

1)	Sneak up on the little varmints?
2)	Take them on a long, long, long car ride?
3)	Actually, all you have to do is hold them over plastic wrap.

--By Jan Suszkiw, Information Staff, Agricultural Research Service

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