AssetID: 54978275
Headline: Snail's regenerating eye could hold the key to curing blindness in humans
Caption: A humble snail could hold the key to humans being able to cure blindness by regrowing lost or damaged eyes. Human eyes are complex and irreparable, yet they are structurally like those of the freshwater apple snail, which can completely regenerate its eyes. Alice Accorsi, assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology at the University of California, Davis, studies how these snails regrow their eyes with the goal of eventually helping to restore vision in people with eye injuries. In a new study published in Nature Communications, Accorsi shows that apple snail and human eyes share many anatomical and genetic features. The reason the snail offers hope for medicine is its eyes' similarity to ours. So, how do the snails regrow their eyes after amputation? The researchers showed that the process takes about a month and consists of several phases. First, the wound must heal to prevent infection and fluid loss, which usually takes around 24 hours. Then, unspecialised cells migrate and proliferate in the area. Over the course of about a week and a half, these cells specialise and begin to form eye structures including the lens and retina. By day 15 post-amputation, all of the eye's structures are present, including the optic nerve, but these structures continue to mature and grow for several more weeks. Accorsi and her team have studied the genes behind the process via editing and seeing its effects, attempting to isolate the key genes that allow the snails to regrow eyes. “If we find a set of genes that are important for eye regeneration, and these genes are also present in vertebrates, in theory we could activate them to enable eye regeneration in humans,” she said.
Keywords: Natural World,apple snail,regeneration,human eyes,camera-type eyes,molecular biology,CRISPR-Cas9,genetic research,eye development,eye regeneration,snail research,gene expression,Pax6 gene,tissue regeneration,University of California,freshwater snail,invasive species,cell proliferation,anatomical similarity,genome sequencing,snail anatomy,regenerative medicine,biotechnology,genetic engineering,CRISPR technology,eye diseases,stem cell research,regenerative abilities,biological systems,scientific breakthroughs,environmental impact,species conservation,molecular genetics,vision restoration
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