They studied regenerative capacity in three species of sea urchins with long, intermediate and short life expectancies: the red sea urchin, Mesocentrotus franciscanus, one of the world's longest - lived organisms with a life expectancy of more than 100 years; the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, with a life expectancy of more than 50 years; and the variegated sea urchin, Lytechinus variegatus, with a life expectancy of only four years.
MDI Biological Laboratory Associate Professor James A. Coffman, Ph.D., is
studying the regenerative capacity of sea urchins in hopes that a deeper understanding of the process of regeneration, which governs the regeneration of aging tissues as well as lost or damaged body parts, will lead to a deeper understanding of the aging process in humans, with whom sea urchins share a close genetic relationship.
Not exact matches
A new
study by researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles has shown that neonatal mouse hearts have varying
regenerative capacities depending upon the severity of injury.
A team of paleontologists of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, the State University of New York at Oswego and Brown University shows in a new
study of fossil amphibians that the extraordinary
regenerative capacities of modern salamanders are likely an ancient feature of four - legged vertebrates that was subsequently lost in the course of evolution.
«We were able to show salamander - like
regenerative capacities in both — fossil groups that develop their limbs like the majority of modern four - legged vertebrates as well in groups with the reversed pattern of limb development seen in modern salamanders,» said Dr. Jennifer Olori of State University of New York at Oswego, co-author on the
study.
They found that although the variegated sea urchin, L. variegatus, has a much lower life expectancy in the wild than the other two species they
studied, it displayed no evidence of a decline in
regenerative capacity with age, which suggests that senescence may not be tied to a short life expectancy in the wild.
«The large size makes Stentor suitable to
study when you want to analyse
regenerative capacity at the cellular level.»
Quyyumi's team has
studied circulating progenitor cells extensively, both as a biomarker predicting
regenerative capacity and outcomes, and as a potential therapeutic agent.
The
study of the genetic and molecular pathways underlying regeneration in these species provides insight into the dormant molecular pathways for regeneration in humans, raising the prospect therapies can be developed to trigger human
regenerative capacity.