Blind tadpoles learn visually with eyes grafted onto tail, neurotransmitter drug treatment

Blind tadpoles were able to process visual information from eyes grafted onto their tails after being treated with a small molecule neurotransmitter drug that augmented innervation, integration, and function of the transplanted organs. The work, which used a pharmacological reagent already approved for use in humans, provides a potential road map for promoting innervation — the supply of nerves to a body part — in regenerative medicine.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

Blind tadpoles learn visually with eyes grafted onto tail, neurotransmitter drug treatment

Blind tadpoles were able to process visual information from eyes grafted onto their tails after being treated with a small molecule neurotransmitter drug that augmented innervation, integration, and function of the transplanted organs. The work, which used a pharmacological reagent already approved for use in humans, provides a potential road map for promoting innervation — the supply of nerves to a body part — in regenerative medicine.

more…

Wow. I must see all the forum members comment on this one.

My comment is are they growing eyes in the lab or are they getting them from other tadpoles?

How many years away are they from performing this operation on humans?

Tau.Neutrino said:

Blind tadpoles learn visually with eyes grafted onto tail, neurotransmitter drug treatment

Blind tadpoles were able to process visual information from eyes grafted onto their tails after being treated with a small molecule neurotransmitter drug that augmented innervation, integration, and function of the transplanted organs. The work, which used a pharmacological reagent already approved for use in humans, provides a potential road map for promoting innervation — the supply of nerves to a body part — in regenerative medicine.

more…

My comment is are they growing eyes in the lab or are they getting them from other tadpoles?

How many years away are they from performing this operation on humans?

There are always moral concerns in carrying out experiments like this. Testing the pharmacological agents capable of promoting nerve growth is wonderful, even more so when it works. And I can’t think of any animal other than a tadpole that would be more morally suited to the experiment – it has to be a vertebrate with significant neuroplasticity.

Even so, it has echos of the “Island of Dr Moreau”.

mollwollfumble said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Blind tadpoles learn visually with eyes grafted onto tail, neurotransmitter drug treatment

Blind tadpoles were able to process visual information from eyes grafted onto their tails after being treated with a small molecule neurotransmitter drug that augmented innervation, integration, and function of the transplanted organs. The work, which used a pharmacological reagent already approved for use in humans, provides a potential road map for promoting innervation — the supply of nerves to a body part — in regenerative medicine.

more…

My comment is are they growing eyes in the lab or are they getting them from other tadpoles?

How many years away are they from performing this operation on humans?

There are always moral concerns in carrying out experiments like this. Testing the pharmacological agents capable of promoting nerve growth is wonderful, even more so when it works. And I can’t think of any animal other than a tadpole that would be more morally suited to the experiment – it has to be a vertebrate with significant neuroplasticity.

Even so, it has echos of the “Island of Dr Moreau”.

Ethics committees everywhere are squiring over cheap Chinese food