'British researchers have found that that the worms, which live in ponds and lakes, could live forever after examining their ability to repeatedly regenerate.
'Experts from Nottingham University created a colony of more than 20,000 flatworms from one original by chopping it into pieces and observing each section grow into a new complete worm. They believe that it could help scientists develop new methods to allow humans to stay younger for longer.
'“We’ve been studying two types of planarian worms; those that reproduce sexually, like us, and those that reproduce asexually, simply dividing in two,” said Dr. Aziz Aboobaker from the University’s School of Biology who led the study. “Both appear to regenerate indefinitely by growing new muscles, skin, guts and even entire brains over and over again. “Usually when stem cells divide - to heal wounds, or during reproduction or for growth - they start to show signs of aging. This means that the stem cells are no longer able to divide and so become less able to replace exhausted specialized cells in the tissues of our bodies. Our aging skin is perhaps the most visible example of this effect. Planarian worms and their stem cells are somehow able to avoid the aging process and to keep their cells dividing.”' (News Medical article).
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