Is it possible to heal a wound with light? One of the goals of regenerative medicine is the ability to reactivate stem cells in injured tissue and promote tissue regeneration rather than repair. In the course of animal evolution, the regenerative capacity has been lost, passing from organisms such as hydra and planaria in which this potential is maximum and starting from a small fragment of tissue it is possible to regenerate a new organism, up to mammals, such as man, which in the adult stage is able to regenerate only part of some organs (heart, eye, liver) but not a new organism. And this ability is due to the presence of stem cells. Reactivating stem cells in adult differentiated tissue is therefore a challenge for regenerative medicine. But how to reactivate them? The Nanobiomolecular group directed by Claudia Tortiglione, in collaboration with Massimo Rippa (CNR-ISASI), and Maria Moros (Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de AragĂłn – INMA, Zaragoza) has published in “Advanced Functional Materials” a study demonstrating the ability of gold nanoprisms to reactivate stem cells following NIR stimulation. Exploiting the unmatchable ability of the polyp Hydra vulgaris to completely regenerate the head following amputation, the study outlines the molecular mechanisms underlying the increased efficiency of regeneration, identifies through transcriptional analysis key developmental genes and genes involved in the response to heat stress that are “reactivated” earlier than normal thanks to “optical switchers”, and estimates by thermographic analysis the amount of heat produced by intracellular nanoheaters, revealing Hydra as a living thermometer for testing the performance of plasmonic materials.
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