NAVHIND TIMES (India) 29 January 05 Scientists produce three-eyed frog
New Delhi (PTI): In an experiment of interest to development biologists, frogs with three eyes have been produced by a scientist and his students at a local college in Bikaner (Rajasthan).Prof Om Prakash Jangir and his students in the zoology department of Dungar College created the third eye in adult frogs by transplanting the pineal glands removed from young (five-day old) tadpoles and rearing them in a medium enriched with vitamin-A.
Some 50 of these strange looking creatures are running around in their laboratory.
Morphological and histological studies revealed that the third eye is identical to the two normal eyes, having all components like cornea, lens and retina and a stalk connecting the eye to the brain, Prof Jangir and his colleagues, Messrs Suthar Shekhawat, P Acharya, K K Swami and Sharma Manshi reported in a paper, which is to appear in a scientific journal.
According to Prof Jangir, the pineal organ which has light sensitive cells, had a visual function in early vertebrates but during evolution it lost this function.
He said his experiments have shown that “we can activate it in vertebrates in whom some residual function is left.”
Instances of one organ transforming into another are well known in animal world.
“But nothing is more remarkable than the refashioning of the pineal gland into a functional third eye,” said Mr Jangir.
He said he had obtained funding from the University Grants Commission to continue his studies on higher animals like mice and rabbits.
Scientists produce three-eyed frog
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IND Press: Scientists produce three-eyed frog
Replies (2)
yea and I wounder what kind of immune system that frog wil have, sometimes I wounder about the experiments that biologist are making.
Yeah, I see no good reason for them to do that. Does the end really justify the means? Unless maybe they're working on giving eyesight to people who lose their eye?
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