A self-healing earthworm could help people recover from nerve damage, according to work by University of Queensland researchers.
Scientists at the Australian academy have identified a molecule, ADM-4, in nematode C.elegans that is essential for regulating the repair of injured nerves.
According to Professor Massimo Hilliard, ADM-4 is an essential protein regulating the molecular glue, or fusogen, needed to fix broken nerves.
Nerve cells communicate using long, cable-like structures called axons. Being long and thin, they are prone to breaking, preventing nerve cells from communicating, leading to paralysis in some cases.
The discovery published in Science Advances comes after Professor Hilliard and his team earlier found C.elegans could spontaneously re-join two separated axon fragments in a process called axonal fusion.
“We have shown that animals lacking ADM-4 cannot repair their nerves by fusion,” said Professor Hilliard.
ADM-4 must function within the injured neuron to stabilise the fusogen EFF-1 and allow the membranes of the separated nerves to merge, he added.
