Straka was studying oxygen usage in tadpole brains of African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) when a lunch conversation with a botanist stimulated a concept to combine plant physiology with neuroscience: harnessing the power of photosynthesis to provide nerve cells with oxygen. In nature, algae live harmoniously in anemones, sponges, and corals, offering them with oxygen and even nutrients.
As German researchers inject green algae into a beating tadpole heart, the translucent animals veins slowly turn green. Upon illumination, the algae can produce oxygen. Credit: Özugur et al./ iScience.
To explore the possibility, the group injected green algae (Chlamydomonas renhardtii) or cyanobacteria (Synechocystis) into tadpoles hearts. With each heartbeat, the algae inched through blood vessels and eventually reached the brain, turning the clear tadpole intense green. Shining light on these tadpoles triggered both algae types to pump out oxygen to nearby cells.
After distributing algae to the brain, the researchers isolated the tadpoles head and positioned it in an oxygen bubble bath with vital nutrients that would protect the performance of the cells, allowing the team to monitor neural activity and oxygen levels. As the researchers depleted oxygen from the bath, the nerves ceased firing and fell quiet. Illuminating the tadpole head rebooted the neural activity within 15 to 20 minutes, which is about 2 times faster than replenishing the bath with oxygen without the algae. The revived nerves likewise performed as well or perhaps better than prior to oxygen exhaustion, showing that the scientists approach was fast and efficient.
” We succeeded in showing the proof of concept try out this approach. It was exceptionally trustworthy and robust, and in my eyes, a gorgeous method,” says Straka. “Working in principle does not truly mean that you might apply it at the end, but its the primary step in order to initiate other studies.”.
While the researchers think their findings might one day lead to brand-new therapies for conditions caused by stroke or oxygen-scarce environments, such as underwater and high elevations, algae are far from prepared to enter our blood circulation. The teams next step is to see whether the injected algae can survive inside living tadpoles and continue oxygen production without causing an immune action that wreaks havoc on the animals.
Straka likewise imagines his research benefiting other laboratories that work with separated tissues or organoids. Introducing oxygen-producing algae could help these tissues prosper and raise their survival rates, possibly minimizing the requirement for live animals for experiments.
” You have to have brand-new principles and brand-new concepts to check out; this is one of the ways science is driven,” states Straka. “If you are open-minded and believe it through, suddenly, you can see all the possibilities from one concept.”.
Reference: “Green oxygen power plants in the brain rescue neuronal activity” by Suzan Özugur, Myra N. Chávez, Rosario Sanchez-Gonzalez, Lars Kunz, Jörg Nickelsen and Hans Straka, 13 October 2021, iScience.DOI: 10.1016/ j.isci.2021.103158.
This work was supported by German Science Foundation, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the Munich Center for Neuroscience.
The injected green algae (green) sit inside the capillary (magenta) like a string of pearls. Credit: Özugur et al./ iScience.
Photosynthesizing algae injected into the capillary of tadpoles supply oxygen to their brains.
Leading a double life in water and on land, frogs have many breathing methods– through the gills, lungs, and skin– throughout their lifetime. Now German researchers have established another approach that enables tadpoles to “breathe” by introducing algae into their bloodstream to provide oxygen. The technique established, presented October 13 in the journal iScience, provided enough oxygen to effectively rescue nerve cells in the brains of oxygen-deprived tadpoles.
” The algae really produced so much oxygen that they might bring the nerve cells back to life, if you will,” says senior author Hans Straka of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. “For many individuals, it sounds like sci-fi, however after all, its just the best mix of biological plans and biological concepts.”.
Now German scientists have actually established another technique that permits tadpoles to “breathe” by introducing algae into their bloodstream to supply oxygen. In nature, algae live harmoniously in polyps, corals, and sponges, providing them with oxygen and even nutrients. Upon illumination, the algae can produce oxygen. After distributing algae to the brain, the scientists isolated the tadpoles head and positioned it in an oxygen bubble bath with important nutrients that would maintain the performance of the cells, allowing the team to monitor neural activity and oxygen levels. Illuminating the tadpole head restarted the neural activity within 15 to 20 minutes, which is about two times faster than replenishing the bath with oxygen without the algae.
