Researchers at Memorial University of Newfoundland and senior scientist Rachel Sipler have discovered a surprising property of sea cucumbers: detached body parts of these creatures can not only survive but continue to grow for several years. This is reported by Ixbt.com reports .
It all started with an accidental observation. Biologists noticed that a severed ambulacral foot of a cold-water sea cucumber of the species Psolus fabricii did not die or decay weeks after being separated from the organism. This prompted the scientists to conduct a series of long-term experiments.
The results were unexpected: individual tissue segments—feet, tentacles, and body walls—continued to live in ordinary seawater for over three years. Most interestingly, they healed wounds and showed signs of growth. For comparison, most animal tissues decompose and die quickly after being separated from the organism.
The researchers placed the samples in non-sterile seawater without any special conditions. Despite the lack of a digestive system, circulation, or a central nervous system, the tissues remained viable. Scientists believe they maintained metabolism by absorbing amino acids and other nutrients dissolved in the seawater.
“We haven’t grown a whole new sea cucumber from a piece yet, but we are observing surprising cell growth and diversification years after the tissue was detached. It’s like a lizard that lost its tail. We know some lizards can grow a new tail, but in this case, we are talking about the tail itself being able to grow a new lizard,” says Rachel Sipler.
Although the regenerative ability of echinoderms has long been known, it was assumed that completely detached tissues would still die. New data show that some cells can retain complex structure and regenerative capacity much longer than expected. Scientists hope that studying this mechanism will open new horizons in regenerative medicine and wound healing.
Read “Zamin” on Telegram!
