Newt’s Regeneration as Basis for Permanent Cure to Eye Conditions Vision is one of the most used senses, often taken for granted. Damage to the eyes can vary, either from outside factors. A punch to an eye can permanently damage the lens and retina. Physical injuries are numerous. The eyes can be permanently blinded by an ill placement of chemicals or a runaway spark from a bonfire. Diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration can lead to permanent blindness. On the other hand, newts can regenerate any of their organs, including eyes, once it has been damaged. As stated by Catarina Franco, “Regeneration is a complex cellular process that, rather than simply forming a scar following injury, the animal forms a new functional tissue” (Franco, 2013). Research is being done on newt’s regeneration process using stem cells as a substitute to obtain the same results in humans. Eyes are important, so a lifetime cure using newt’s regeneration, should be available to humans through the use of stem cells or other regenerative processes. Human eyes have a complex system to relay the pictures to the brain so it can comprehend an image. There are three important layers in an eye: the cornea, the lens, and the retina. Light waves enter through the cornea, past the lens, and then hit the retina, where the photo receptors signal the image to the optic nerve (Chiba, 2013). The optic nerve transfers the image, like data, to the brain and converts it into a comprehensive image. In between the cornea and the lens are the iris and pupil. The iris surrounds the pupil, an opening in the eye that leads to the lens. Together, the pupil and lens regulate the amount of light that enters the eye. If one part of the eye becomes damaged in any way, whethe... ... middle of paper ... ...s, M. M., Yamada, S., ... & Del Rio-Tsonis, K. Controlling gene loss of function in newts with emphasis on lens regeneration. nature protocols, 2011, 6, 593-599. Tsonis, P. A., & Del Rio-Tsonis, K. Lens and retina regeneration: transdifferentiation, stem cells and clinical applications. Experimental eye research, 2004, 78, 161-172. Wassmer, S., Beddaoui, M., Rajai, P., Munger, R., & Tsilfidis, C. A Focus on the Optical Properties of the Regenerated Newt Lens. PloS one, 2013, 8, e70845. Yang, X. T., Bi, Y. Y., Chen, E. T., & Feng, D. F. Overexpression of Wnt3a facilitates the proliferation and neural differentiation of neural stem cells in vitro and after transplantation into an injured rat retina. Journal of neuroscience research, 2014, 92, 148-161. Yip, H. K. Retinal Stem Cells and Regeneration of Vision System. The Anatomical Record, 2014, 297, 137-160.
Huang, Y., Enzmann, V., and Iidstad, S."Stem cell-based therapeutic applications in retinal degenerative diseases." Stem Cell Rev. 7.2 (2011): 434-445.
Regeneration is a process in which tissue molds itself into an exact replica of an injured or severed part. The process of regeneration depends on different factors such as the environment and the development of the organism in question (Br, 1955). Regeneration occurs in several steps and the organism must have the ability to perform each one for successful regeneration with minimal loss of necessary function. First, after a wound is made muscular contraction closes up the wound (Pellettieri et al., 2010). Next a blastema, a group of undifferentiated cells, forms and will differentiate into the missing parts. Lastly the undifferentiated cells go through epimorphosis where the lost parts are formed by the blastema (Reddien & Sánchez Alvarado, 2004).
“Through the isolation and manipulation of cells, scientists are finding ways to identify young, regenerating ones that can be used to replace damaged of dead cells in diseased organs. This therapy is similar to the process of organ transplant, only the treatment consists of the transplantation of cells rather than organs. The cells that have shown by far the most promise of supplying diseased organs with healthy cells are called stem cells.” (Chapter Preface)
With no treatment needed, glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, while simultaneously being the number one leading cause in Africa (Glaucoma Research Foundation). According to the American Optometric Association, “Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases causing optic nerve damage. The optic nerve carries images from the retina, which is the specialized light sensing tissue, to the brain so we can see.” They go on to say that when dealing with glaucoma, one’s eye pressure plays a vital role in damaging the delicate nerve fibers of the optic nerve. “When a significant number of nerve fibers are damaged, blind spots develop in the field of vision. Once nerve damage and visual loss occur, it is permanent.” The National Institute of Health states that due to shallower anterior chamber depths, this defect hurts the lives of people mostly from East Asian descent. The Foundation continues to say that blacks are among the people who are three times more likely to have glaucoma while woman in general are two times more likely to developing angle closure glaucoma.
Stem cell research began in 1956 when Dr. E Donnall Thomas performed the first bone marrow transplant (“Adult stem cells are not more promising,” 2007). Since that time, research has evolved into obtaining cells from a variety of tissues. According to stem cell research professors, Ariff Bongso and Eng Hin Lee (2005), “Stem cells are unspecialized cells in the human body that are capable of becoming cells, each with new specialized functions” (p. 2). Stem cells are in various adult tissues, such as bone marrow, the liver, the epidermis layer of skin, the central nervous system, and eyes. They are also in other sources, such as fetuses, umbilical cords, placentas, embryos, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are cells from adult tissues that have been reprogrammed to pluripotency. Most stem cells offer multipotent cells, which are sparse...
Schwartz, S. D. (2012). Embryonic stem cell trials for macular degeneration: A preliminary report. PubMed, Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22281388
The high percentages of individuals who endure this impairment justifies and practically demands future research because the causes are not fully understood. The need for future research can be better emphasized if those with normal vision try to empathize with victims of macular degeneration. One can only imagine how frustrating it must be to receive sensatrions only in the periphery of the retina. Because the macula encompassed the cone rich fovea, which is used to focus on objects, the fovea degenerates as well. This occurence inables individuals to interpret the sensations they experience. Reading, ...
The importance of embryonic stem cells rests in their lack of specialization. These basic cells are present in the earliest stages of developing embryos and are able to develop into virtually any type of cell and tissue in the body. Being self-renewing, they offer a potentially limitless source of cells and tissue. (Tucker)
The four main components of the eye that are responsible for producing an image are the cornea, lens, ciliary muscles and retina. Incoming light rays first encounter the cornea. The bulging shape of the cornea causes it to refract light similar to a convex lens. Because of the great difference in optical density between the air and the corneal material and because of the shape of the cornea, most of the refraction to incoming light rays takes place here. Light rays then pass through the pupil, and then onto the lens. A small amount of additional refraction takes place here as the light rays are "fine tuned" so that they focus on the retina.
and the iris which is the colored part of the eye, it regulates the amount of light
Sousounis, k., A. Ogura, and P.A. Tsonis. 2013. Transcriptome Analysis of Nautilus and Pygmy Squid Developing Eye Provides Insights in Lens and Eye Evolution. PLoS ONE 8(10): e78054
It is the process that makes genomes, cells, organisms flexible to natural changes that cause disturbance or damage. Every species is capable of regeneration, from bacteria to humans. Regeneration can be of two types- it can either be complete where the new tissue is the same as the lost tissue, or incomplete where the necrotic tissue comes fibrosis. [2]
Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue. Often times I find myself looking up on a clear day, pondering over that question? Why isn’t it green, or red or pink for even that matter. Every day, the human eye blinks more than 23,00 times. The human eye is a complicated organ that performs one of the most important tasks for our body. There are many questions about the eye however. What function do they perform? What happens if we don’t take care of them? How exactly do they work together to help us form images? Exactly how far can they human eye see?
This reflected light passes through the lens and falls on to the retina of the eye. Here, the light induces nerve impulses that travel through the optic nerve to the brain, where it makes an image of the object, and then that image is passed on to muscles and glands.The eye is well protected. It lies within a bony socket of the skull. The eyelids guard it in front. They blink an average of once every six seconds. This washes the eye with the salty secretion from the tear, or lachrymal, glands.