Summary: Scientists have created a model that allows them to study injured brain tissue; They also have perfected a technique that keeps the brain of a fruit fly alive and healthy for a lengthy period of time. This is important because it allows them to inflict injury on certain nerve bundles and study what happens. They have all ready found the activation of a certain signaling pathway induces the regeneration of axons. This allows positive perceptives for the patients dealing with nerve injuries. The fruit fly model is 60% genetic similarity to humans. This model is helping us study memory and sense of smell; before we could only study the mouse. In the future the model will be used for learning about damaged nerve bundles; these will be applicants for further research with human and hopefully with help create new treatments for patients with nerve injury.
Importance: This is important because the problems with nerves that we thought weren't fixable may now be fixable. We may now be able to figure out other animals that we can compare our genetics too. I thought this article was amazing, I never knew how similar our genetics were compared to flies.
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2008/06/03/microsurgery_on_the_brain_of_the_fruit_fly_leads_to_new_insights_into_irreparable_nerve_injuries.html
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