Unlike the cells of many tissues, muscle and neuronal cells do not replicate throughout life. Therefore there has to be an eVective mechanism of inducing local repair and preventing cell death. We have identified and cloned two growth factors that are expressed by muscle when it is subjected to activity which are derived from the insulin like growth factor-I (IGF-I) gene by alternative splicing...

Unlike the cells of many tissues, muscle and neuronal cells do not replicate throughout life. Therefore there has to be an eVective mechanism of inducing local repair and preventing cell death. We have identified and cloned two growth factors that are expressed by muscle when it is subjected to activity which are derived from the insulin like growth factor-I (IGF-I) gene by alternative splicing...

Collagen IV is a major component of vertebrate basal laminae (BLs). Studies in humans have revealed a family of genes encoding or-or6 collagen IV chains and implicated ot3-ot6 in disease processes (Goodpasture and Alport syndromes and diffuse leiomyomatosis). To extend studies of these components to an experimentally accessible animal, we cloned cDNAs encoding partial collagen t~3, u4, and ot5(...