Agouti are known for their ability to heal severe skin wounds without leaving scars
Now, researchers have discovered that the severely damaged internal organs of agouti can also regenerate, and in other mice, this damage can lead to fatal organ failure
Mark Majesky, chief researcher at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, said, “For patients with end-stage renal disease or degenerative fibrosis of the heart, lung, liver or reproductive organs, there are currently very few treatment options
Earlier studies on wound healing in agouti showed to Majesky and colleagues (including the attending physician and associate professor of pediatrics Daryl Okamura at the University of Washington) that these animals have solved the problem of tissue fibrosis (scarring) after injury in the process of evolution
To find out, the researchers exposed agouti to an environment known to cause severe kidney damage in other mice
"The agouti kidney function was completely restored in a dramatic two weeks, which surprised us
To find out how agouti did this, the researchers took a comprehensive look at the genes they express
They also discovered a delayed response of immune cells called macrophages, which play a role in fibrosis
Majesky said: "We have opened a new window for the development of possible treatments for chronic kidney disease, which may be applicable to other organs that show similar loss of function due to progressive tissue fibrosis
"Our goal is to understand what nature has done to evolve a mammalian genome that can heal tissue damage through regeneration without producing fibrotic scars, and apply the lessons learned to new treatments for kidney disease.
Related paper information: https://doi.
https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
isci.
2021.
103269 https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
isci.
2021.
103269
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