Sea animal regenerates itself from single blood vessel

Friday, March 16, 2007 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: tissue regeneration, sea animals, health news

An amazing invertebrate known as the sea squirt is able to regenerate a complete, sexually reproducing organism from mere fragments of the single blood vessel, scientists have reported in the journal "PloS Biology." The study was conducted on wild animals collected from beneath stones in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel.

Jump directly to: conventional view | alternative view | bottom line

What you need to know - Conventional View

• Sea squirts live in colonies composed of hundreds or thousands of genetically identical individuals, connected to each other by a network of blood vessels in a gelatinous matrix.

• Researchers removed blood vessel fragments from these colonies, each about one millimeter long. A single sea squirt is about two to three millimeters long.

• Of 95 fragments studied, 80 regenerated into a completely functional adult, capable of sexual reproduction, over the course of one to three weeks.

• The type of regeneration was unlike any previously witnessed. Rather than regenerating from a tissue at the site of regrowth, as most invertebrates do, the sea squirts regenerated through a process more similar to embryonic development.

• Sea squirt regeneration took place in dozens of tiny compartments that formed into hollow spheres, inside which stem cells developed into chambers and organs. The stem cells were very similar to those in adult mammals, with the exception of developing into an entire organism, rather than a specific tissue or organ.

• Quote: "In mammals, many adult organs and tissues contain specific stem cells that are involved in repair and some restricted regeneration abilities.... The huge difference [in sea squirts] is that [the stem cells] culminate in an entire organism." - Researcher Ram Reshef

What you need to know - Alternative View

Statements and opinions by Mike Adams, author for Truth Publishing

• What this research shows is the miraculous healing and regenerative power of nature. The capability to regenerate some tissue also exists in human beings, as is witnessed in the healing process following physical injury.

• Life is fractal (or "holographic") in nature, and the whole organism is encoded in each part of the organism. Each cell of your body has the blueprint necessary to regenerate your entire body. With proper nutrition and avoidance of environmental toxins, you can reactivate healing processes to overcome many so-called "incurable" degenerative diseases -- even cancer, diabetes or osteoporosis.

Bottom line

• Sea squirts can regenerate their entire bodies from a single blood vessel fragment, in a process similar to embryonic development.