Regeneration processes are of vital importance to repair and replace lost tissues and organs. In chordates and other animals groups, the nervous system is considered almost irreplaceable; neurons that are lost after trauma cannot be replaced and there is a limited functional reconnection of nerve fibers. This project uses a new experimental system, the sea cucumber, a member of the phylum Echinodermata, to explore the regeneration of the nervous system. Echinoderms, although invertebrate animals are closely related to the vertebrates, and posses an extraordinary regeneration capacity. The project aims to study the regeneration of the nervous system within the digestive tract and the cellular division and differentiation associated with this process. It also explores the regeneration capacities of the main echinoderm nervous tissue components to determine if the regeneration of cells and fibers constitute a general event in echinoderm tissues. Finally, it studies the expression of genes, known to be important in regenerative and embryological organogenesis, and their expression during nervous system regeneration. Results from our experiments will advance the understanding of neuronal regeneration by obtaining information from a key group of organisms, echinoderms, where regeneration is a natural regular event. The proposed work on nervous regeneration is part of our overall goal of understanding the process by which the cells that make up the nervous system are generated, and how they differentiate and assemble into a functional organ.
