Strain Detail: FOXO1 Tg mice

FOXO1 mice are transgenic mice specifically overexpressing FOXO1 in skeletal muscle. this strain is available for elucidating molecular mechanism of muscle atrophy and development of preventive medicine. Muscle atrophy is caused by being confined to bed, putting a broken leg or arm in a cast and so on. As a result, skeletal muscle mass and function decrease gradually. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms on this process are not clearly understood.

FOXO1 is a forkhead transcription factor and nuclear hormone receptor cofactor. Gene expression of FOXO1 is increased remarkably in mouse skeletal muscle during muscle atrophy by energy deficiency such as fasting. It shows that FOXO1 decreases skeletal muscle mass and down-regulatesred muscle fiber geneby using FOXO1 mice.

1. Kamei Y, Miura S, Suzuki M, Kai Y, Mizukami J, Taniguchi T, Mochida K, Hata T, Matsuda J, Aburatani H, Nishino I, and Ezaki O. (2004) Skeletal muscle FOXO1 (FKHR) transgenic mice have less skeletal muscle mass, down-regulated Type I (slow twitch/red muscle) fiber genes, and impaired glycemic control. J. Biol. Chem. 279(39):41114-23. [PMID:15272020]