In the upper part of the eyes of each person there are tear glands. We are needed to generate tears that wet your eyes and protect them from drying and getting dangerous bacteria. Unfortunately, in some diseases, tears cease to be produced in the required quantity and the person begins to experience dryness in the eyes. And this is fraught with painful sensations and even subsequent blindness. Usually in this case, patients are encouraged by special drops into the eyes, but scientists want to learn to completely treat the diseases of the tear glands. It sounds commendable, only there is one problem - the researchers do not yet know exactly, because of which it is glands that the glands cease to produce liquid. But recently, the Netherlands scientists were able to create artificial lacrimal glands and forced them to cry. It sounds strange and to some extent even cruelly, but it is. This scientific achievement revealed the cause of one of the most dangerous diseases of the tear glands.
What is SHEGREEN Syndrome?
This disease is called Shegren syndrome. It is characterized by dryness not only eyes, but also many mucous membranes of the body like the oral cavity and so on. What exactly it arises, the scientist is still unknown. Only one thing is clear - with iron producing liquids, something is something wrong. To find out the cause of an unusual phenomenon, scientists decided to create artificial lacrimal glands and carry out several experiments on them. Also, they were also interested, whether it is possible to translate them into the eyes of a living organism - did they fit?
Artificial tear glands
According to the scientific journal Cell Stem Cell, using stem cells of mice and humans, scientists have created the organoids of the tear glands. So called structures that can perform all or some organ functions. In this case, we are talking about the possibility of developing tears. For growing a new organ, stem cells were used because they are capable of self-renewable. This is no longer news - they are almost always used in the cultivation of the organs.
The idea was implemented successfully. Scientists really created the organoids of the tear glands and could even make them cry. For this, they exposed them to norepinephrine - a chemical that provokes tears production. According to the researchers, when filling the structure, the structure was inflated, and therefore they were sharply blown as balloons and freed tears.
See also: Why are the tears of salt and help to cope with stress?
Treatment of eye diseases
So, scientists have successfully raised glands that are able to produce tears. The first goal of scientific work was achieved and the turn is the second. In the second part of the work, they wanted to learn which genes contribute to the development of tears. It turned out that the most important of these genes is PAX6 - after its removal, artificial authorities stopped performing their main function. Previously, scientists have already assumed that these genes may be guilty in the development of Schreren's syndrome. Now they are more confident about this and this knowledge will allow them to develop an effective method of treatment of syndrome.
In addition to all of the listed, as part of the study, scientists tried to transplant the cells of the man's tears in the gland mice. To universal surprise, they perfectly fit and it did not need a lot of time. In particular, for lushing in the gland and the formation of the structures necessary for work, it took about two weeks. But this does not mean that healthy tear glands can be transferred to other people. In theory, this is possible, but for conducting such operations in practice there is still many studies. Permission to carry out such surgical interventions will be given only in the case of successful results.
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It is worth noting that the creation of artificial organs is an already familiar practice for scientists. In 2020, my colleague Lyubov Sokovikova told about how Chinese scientists were able to develop an artificial eye. And it was a fairly discussed event, because this body of vision could see in the dark and well distinguished the letters. The developers put forward the assumption that in the future they will be able to improve the technology and owners of artificial bodies will see much better than ordinary people. You can read more about artificial eye on this link.