Some species of lizard are a priority study target for scientists, who are trying to discover the mechanisms that allow their tails to grow back when they suffer an amputation. A key to understanding this true biological wonder is that, unlike mammals, its appendages include fragments of spinal cord .
The ultimate goal is to emulate its biological recipe to regenerate damaged or lost tissues also in human organisms.
Professor Matthew Vickaryous, a researcher at the University of Guelph, in Ontario (Canada), has focused on the study of geckos – they recover their limbs in 30 days, faster than any other reptile – and has discovered that the spinal cord of its tail contains a good number of stem cells and proteins that allow this regeneration.
“Now, we finally know what type of cells make it possible,” explained Vickaryous, lead author of the work, which has been published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology . “Spinal cord injuries in humans are very difficult to treat, so I hope that the Gueckos will teach us how to repair our spinal cord itself ,” adds this expert.
When in their natural environment, geckos tend to lose their tails due to a bad encounter with a predator. The detached appendix, like that of lizards, remains moving for a time to distract the aggressor and to be able to escape. In the laboratory, Vickaryous and his colleagues have sectioned it to several specimens to analyze what happens at the molecular level in the regrowth phase.
In this way they have been able to detect the unusual behavior of a type of stem cell called radial glia , which is normally inactive. When amputation occurs, these cells generate different proteins and begin to proliferate in response to the crisis. But once the tail recovers the initial state, the radial glias return to the “off mode”.
An amazing animal
On the contrary, the human organism responds to a spinal cord accident by manufacturing scar tissue instead of renewing it , as lizards do with their tails. The problem is thus solved urgently, but in the long term the consequences of the injury persist: we lack the key cells that allow regeneration.
As Vickaryous himself has announced, this work is only the first in a series of studies to delve into the incredible regenerative powers of the geckos’ nervous system . The next step is to discover how it is able to create new neurons in the brain.
“These reptiles can recover many tissues from their body, which makes them ideal models to investigate the biological springs of wound healing and tissue regeneration,” says the Canadian professor.
Not forgetting that experts in new materials have also looked at the incredible climbing abilities of its legs, made up of hundreds of millions of tiny hairs, to emulate its adhesive power and develop super- powerful glues. Because of the gecko, from a scientific point of view, everything is taken advantage of.
