Researchers at Vanderbilt University have "engineered" a mouse that can run on a treadmill¹ twice as long as a normal mouse by increasing its supply of acetylcholine（乙酰胆碱） , the neurotransmitter（神经传导素） essential for muscle contraction². The finding, reported this month in the journal Neuroscience, could lead to new treatments for neuromuscular disorders⁴ such as myasthenia gravis（重症肌无力） , which occurs when cholinergic（类胆碱的） nerve signals fail to reach the muscles, said Randy Blakely, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Molecular⁵ Neuroscience.

Blakely and his colleagues inserted a gene⁶ into mice that increased the production of a protein called the choline transporter at the neuromuscular junction⁷.

The choline transporter is vital to the capacity for muscle contraction – including the ability to breathe – because it regulates the supply of choline, the precursor⁸ to acetylcholine. "We reasoned that giving more of this protein might enhance muscle function and reduce nerve-dependent fatigue," Blakely said.

Other researchers have manipulated the gene for the muscle tissue growth factor myostatin to produce animals with greater strength and endurance, but Blakely said this may be the first time "neural⁹ endurance" was enhanced by manipulating the nerves that innervate（使受神经支配） muscle.

Drugs that increase choline transporter activity "could represent a novel therapeutic¹⁰ strategy" for myasthenia gravis and a wide range of other disorders that involve cholinergic signaling deficits¹¹, Blakely said.

These disorders include muscular dystrophy（肌肉萎缩症） , congestive heart failure, depression, schizophrenia（精神分裂症） , Alzheimer's disease and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder³ (ADHD). "The brain uses acetylcholine for a wide variety of functions, including the ability to sustain attention," Blakely noted¹².

Last year, Blakely and his colleagues reported that a variation in the choline transporter gene is associated with the "combined" type of ADHD, which is characterized by both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.