novafishy Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 Hey guys, did anyone see that article in the sun herald on sunday about how zebra danios are helping sydney scientists crack the code of a disease that kills one Australian every 10 minutes? It was a very interesting article, I couldnt find it online. ______________________________ Apparently, scientists discovered that the heart of the danio has the amazing ability to regenerate and repair itself. Professor Peter Currie and his team damaged the fish's heard and found it had the capacity to grow back. THis discovery could lead to treatments or a possible cure for the millions of australians affected by heart disease. It turns out that if you slit open the fish and cut off up to one-third of its heart, within 60 days they can fully regenerate the whole of their heart. Another advantage of using zebra fish is that the female produces large quantities of eggs and it can develop from a single cell to a tiny fish within 48 hourse, while mice take 3 weeks. Currie is also using the fish to try to find a cure for the genetically inherited birth defect muscular dystrophy, which affects one in every 3300 Australian men. ______________________________ So it seems that this common $2 zebra danio of ours could be the breakthrough in heart disease! Hooray! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phatoscarlover Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 Very interesting maybe the $2 price tag is set to jump! I hope they get some good reasearch out of them anyways. Cheers Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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