Charles Choi, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 27 February 2013
Eyes hooked up to the tail can help blinded
tadpoles see, researchers say.
These findings could help guide therapies involving
natural or artificial implants, scientists added.
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| CREDIT: Douglas Blackiston |
A major roadblock when it comes to treating
blindness and other sensory disorders is how much remains unknown about the
nervous system and its ability to adapt to change. To learn more about the
relationship between the body and the brain, researchers wanted to see how
capable the brain was of interpreting sensory data from abnormal
"ectopic" locations from which it normally does not receive
signals.
Researchers grafted the tails of blind tadpoles of
the African frog with eye tissue, which gave the tadpoles sight.
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