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A small creature with crazy gills, a polite smile and glowing green skin just gave scientists a great hint to solve one of the greatest secrets of biology: limb regeneration.
Water salamanders, called Axolotls, are known for their unusual ability to grow limbs lost due to trauma or amputation. The researchers now have revealed the complex process of this superpower in a new study published on Nature Communications Tuesday.
“For a long time, the question arose about the clues that indicate cells at the site of injury, such as growing only by hand or raising the entire hand,” said James Monaghan, senior researcher, professor of biology and director of the chemical depiction institute at the Northeast University.
It turns out that it is a substance called retinoic acid, usually found in retinol acne treatment, is responsible for what parts of the body should regenerate Axolotl injured cells – and how the test is found.
Retinoic acid is also important in creating human embryos, telling cells where to grow head, heads and legs, Monaghan explained. However, for an unknown reason, most of our cells lose the opportunity to “listen to” the regenerative hints of the molecule while being in the uterus.
And while all human limbs still look like distant scientific fiction subjects, Monaghan said it could help develop new human treatment methods and gene therapy in the research of retinoic acid alarm function in these amphibians.
By researching the feature of retinic acid alarm in these “smiling” water salamanders, scientists can help develop new treatment methods and gene therapy for people. – Alyssa Stone/Northeast University
Research retinoic acid is tested in axolotles
Axolotls naturally glows in the dark. Monaghan’s team used genetically modified axolotlus, which shines fluorescent green wherever the molecule activated the injured cells, to observe the alarm reactions.
Initially, the research team chose the Frankenstein method more, injecting too large amounts of retinoic acid into salamander systems and observing the effect. At the amputation, the Axolotls will grow more than what they needed – by changing your hands with your entire hand.
“If you throw a ton of retinoic acid into (traumatic location), all these different genes that probably have nothing to do with the necessary project will be activated,” said Catherine McCusker, an associate professor at the Boston University of Massachusetts University.
To better understand how Axolotls used its natural level of retinoic acid to regeneration of the limbs, Monaghan and his team changed their attitude.
“We have learned that one enzyme is responsible for the breakdown of retinoic acid (Axolotls”), “Monaghan said when his team blocked this enzyme, the same Frankenstein’s effect happened again.
In other words, the injured Axolotl hand knows that it does not grow in part by partially because the enzyme, called CYP26B1, blocks the regeneration process further, explained McCusker.
So far, this ratio in the Axolotl regenerative system has only one part of the puzzle, Monaghan said. The next step will be to find out exactly what gene retinoic acid directs to cells during regeneration to further reveal the “drawing” followed by these cells.
Axolotls naturally does not indicate in the dark – they have been genetically modified to better understand how they use retinoic acid to grow lost limbs. – Timothy Duerr
What people can learn from Axolotls
When Axolotl cells are injured, they survive a process called dediferitation, when they lose their “memory” and return to the state of the embryo, Monaghan said. In this embryo state, the cells focus on generation of new limbs, and they can listen to retinoic acid signals again to create and grow.
However, human cells are not confused when injured, so they cannot respond to retinic acid signals. Instead, our tissues respond to injuries by finding, putting piles of collagen and calling it a day, Monaghan said.
And what if there was a way of how human cells could re -adopt these orders to make the limbs again?
“This issue is very interesting when it comes to gene therapy, because we may not need to add genes or genes to cause people’s regeneration – we can just turn on the right gene at the right time or turn off the right genes at the right time,” Monaghan said, providing technologies such as CRISPR, allowing scientists to change DNA to prevent disease and disease.
Human limb regeneration is likely to be far away in the future, but when scientists understand more about the alarm of retino -acid, technology could help restore this regenerative ability to cure wounds and prevent scars, McCusker said.
Part of the McCusker research focuses on accelerating the process of regeneration of the limbs. Axolotls may only take a couple of days for their little hands to grow, but a completely grown person may take a year, McCusker said.
“It is important to continue to carry out these basic biology research,” said McCusker. “We find super new ways to do things that we think is currently possible with current human medicine.”
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