Sci/Tech Blind tadpoles learn visually with eye grafted on tail

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In a new study, blind tadpoles were able to process visual information from eyes that were grafted onto their tails after being treated with a neurotransmitter drug. Researchers used a neurotransmitter drug called Zolmitriptan, which is already approved for other uses in humans, to enhance integration and functionality of the grafted eye.

We spoke to Michael Levin from Tuft University’s Allen Discovery Center about the study and what it means for regenerative medicine.

ResearchGate: Why put an eyeball on a tadpole’s tail?

Michael Levin: We are interested in understanding how information is spread across tissues, how the brain deals with altered body architectures, and how implanted structures can be optimized. We developed this model as an ideal platform to study these questions. The fact that tadpoles can use ectopic eyes, eyes placed where they don’t usually form, for image-forming vision shows that the brain has remarkable plasticity to deal with altered body structures, and that this technique can improve the functional performance of transplanted organs.

RG: Can you tell more about your findings?

Levin: We basically found that the supply of nerves emerging from transplanted eyes into the host can be drastically increased by a drug already in use in human patients for other purposes. We found that this increases the efficiency of integration of the eyes placed on the tails of tadpoles. The tadpoles could see not only colors, but also shapes and movement. These eyes don't connect directly to the brain, but rather to the spinal cord.


Read more here. (ResearchGate)
 
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