
Dolly, the first cloned animal created from adult cells, didn't have early onset of arthritis, according to a new study.
As it turns out, Dolly the sheep didn’t have osteoarthritis after all, at least according to a new study. Scientists in the United Kingdom say that Dolly, the first animal cloned from adult cells, was not suffering from the disease as initial reports suggested back in 2003 at the age of 5 and a half.
The early reports that she had osteoarthritis led to some suggestions that cloning animals led to early onset diseases. However, the study appears to dispel that notion, at least in Dolly’s case.
They determined this by making a radiographic assessment of Dolly’s skeleton, which is stored in Edinburgh. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports on Nov. 23.
“Original concerns that cloning caused early-onset osteoarthritis (OA) in Dolly the sheep are unfounded, say experts at the University of Nottingham and the University of Glasgow,” reads the statement from the University of Nottingham. “The team, who published last year’s Nottingham Dollies research which showed that the 8 year-old Nottingham ‘Dollies’ had aged normally, have now published a radiographic assessment of the skeletons of Dolly herself, Bonnie (her naturally conceived daughter) and Megan and Morag (the first two animals to be cloned from differentiated cells).”
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