Amazing stuff!
"... In a new study, researchers documented the continued viability of amputated tissue from a sea cucumber for over three years in natural seawater. It’s the first known report of the long-term survival — and continued growth — of discarded tissue outside of a highly controlled, sterilized environment. ...
Since the mid-20th century, scientists have made significant breakthroughs with “immortal” cell lines, like the famous HeLa cells, that can be grown in a lab and proliferate indefinitely for long-term research.
In earlier studies, though, tissue cultures have only been maintained under “axenic” conditions that are tightly controlled, rigorously maintained, and lack any bacteria or other organisms. Even then, they have not demonstrated signs of actual healing and growth, nor retained the ability to independently move.
Many echinoderms, the phylum that includes sea cucumbers, are known to display impressive regeneration capacity and negligible cell aging. Lost tissue, though, was always assumed to eventually decay or die. ... the researchers noticed that some discarded tissue from a tube foot of a sea cucumber hadn’t decayed after a number of weeks. In fact, it seemed to be growing. ..."
From the abstract:
"Senescence and immortality are central biological paradigms. While regenerative capabilities in Deuterostomia are known, the fate of lost and discarded tissues has been presumed terminal.
Here, we demonstrate that explanted epidermal, connective, neural, and muscle tissue from the sea cucumber Psolus fabricii (Holothuroidea: Echinodermata) healed and continued to grow in natural, nonaxenic seawater without supplementation for more than 3 years.
In experimental trials, these explants, termed LiPfe (living immortal P. fabricii explants) displayed immune activity, cell cycling, tissue reorganization, and absorption of dissolved amino acids, underscoring their active living state. Comparative experiments conducted on explanted tissues from related species demonstrated no equivalent tissue survival, highlighting the unique properties of P. fabricii, which do not have parallels in the current literature.
Our findings challenge conventional perceptions of tissue immortality and present a new class of experimental model, free from ethical concerns, with substantial implications for regenerative biology, biomedical research, and tissue engineering."
Scientists Find Groundbreaking Potential for Tissue Regrowth and Immortality in the Ocean (original news release)
Fig. 1. Outline of questions, processes, and analyses that helped develop the initial framework of this study.
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