TOKYO (AP) – Scientists have discovered the ultimate case of rebirth: some decapitated sea snails can regrow hearts and new bodies.
This ‘miracle of nature’, reported in a biology journal on Monday, could finally help scientists better understand and tackle human tissue regeneration.
Biological researcher Sayaka Mitoh said she likes to study Japanese sea snails because they are small, cute and strange. They can even photosynthesize briefly like a plant extracting food from the sun.
One day in the laboratory she saw something strange: A sea snail had decapitated itself and its head kept moving and alive. Then some more did the same, according to a study in Current Biology.
The doctoral student and professor Nara Women’s University in water ecology, Yoichi Yusa, therefore tried it himself and chopped off the head of 16 sea snails. Six of the creatures began to regenerate, with three succeeding in surviving. One of the three even lost twice and she regained her body. Two different types of Japanese sea snails did this regeneration trick.
Other creatures can shed body parts when needed, such as when some lizards drop their tails to get away from a predator, in a biological phenomenon called autotomy.
“We think this is the most extreme case of autotomy,” Yusa said. “Some animals can automate their legs or appendages or tails, but no other animal sheds their entire body.”
Scientists thought that such a relatively large animal – one of the species of sea snail – could grow up to 6 centimeters long – could not survive without a heart to pump blood and nutrients to the brain, said Canadian marine biologist Susan Anthony, who did not. was not. part of the study.
But the same thing that makes this species spectacular is probably what helps it do the trick, Anthony and Yusa said.
When these sea snails eat a certain type of algae, they can photosynthesize their food from sunlight and oxygen for about ten days, just like a plant, Yusa said. What probably happens after beheading is that the head acts like a plant, he said. It turns green and gets energy through oxygen and sunlight. The fact that it is getting small helps, he said.
These species probably developed the performance as a way to ward off parasites, Mitoh and Yusa said.
Humans may be able to learn something useful from marine animals, several scientists have said. What is particularly interesting is that these sea snails are more complex than flatworms or other species known to regenerate, said Nicholas Curtis, a biology professor at Ave Maria University who was not part of the study.
“It’s obviously a miracle of nature, but understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms involved can help us understand how our cells and tissues can be used to repair damage,” Curtis said in a statement. email said.
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