How marine worms will help regenerative medicine

Embryologists of St. Petersburg State University, in the course of studying the mechanism of tissue repair in marine worms, discovered in them a substance that can be useful for humans, in particular, be used in medicine for faster wound healing and tissue regeneration.

The results obtained by scientists during the study were published in the scientific journal dedicated to genetics and genomics – Genes.

Who is the green nereis and why did he interest scientists

The green nereis, a large marine worm that lives in the waters of the White Sea, has become the object of attention of Russian scientists. Representatives of this family are among the largest among annelids. They can reach up to half a meter in length, and their life expectancy is from 3 to 7 years. But these marine inhabitants were interested in embryologists by their other characteristics – the unique ability to regenerate damaged tissues.

The exceptional ability of annelids (annelids) to regenerate has been known to biologists for a long time. In particular, representatives of the Nereis family are able to restore several lost segments of the back of the body in just a week, and the wound in the place of the amputated part is covered with epithelium already on the first day. However, the mechanism that allows worms to regenerate lost parts has not yet been clearly and in detail described.

What scientists have found

For research, embryologists took several individuals of Nereis, artificially fertilized them, and the offspring of worms obtained in this way, which was grown in laboratory conditions, became the object of scientific analysis.

During the study, experts discovered a special type of protein in the bodies of green nereis – fibroblast growth factors (FGFs). When there is a need to repair damaged tissues, the body begins to produce FGF. This function is assigned to the cells of the epidermis, nervous tissue, fibroblasts and macrophages. Under the influence of these same proteins, cells in the body begin to divide more intensively. The synthesis of tropocollagen is also activated – a substance that is a precursor of collagen, an intercellular matrix that serves as a kind of framework for connective tissues. In addition, under the influence of fibroblast growth factor, the main substance of the connective tissue is also formed, blood vessels and nerve cells begin to grow intensively.

To confirm their guess that it is in the FGF proteins that the secret of the rapid regeneration of marine worms lies, the scientists found areas of FGF activity in the organisms of the experimental Nereis and blocked them. As a result, the regeneration processes on the bodies of the worms stopped. The suppression of protein activity stopped the process of cell division at the site of tissue damage and the restoration of the lost segment. Worms from the control group, in which FGF was not inhibited, already 4 hours after the amputation of the tail showed the growth of new cells, and over the next 6 days they actively recovered nerves and muscle tissue.

How useful is this discovery for medicine

The discovery of St. Petersburg scientists is of significant importance not only for biology, as it allows a better understanding of the specifics of regenerative processes in the organisms of marine worms, but can also serve as a serious impetus to the development of medicine. Moreover, there are proteins of the FGF group in human organisms, and there is no fundamental difference between these compounds in the bodies of invertebrates and mammals. However, scientists still do not know why, despite the presence of this protein in the human body, people are deprived of the ability to regenerate damaged tissues so quickly, which is observed in marine worms. However, scientists suggest that the use of drugs based on FGF proteins may be useful for faster healing of wounds on the human body.

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