Press release: Epo protects the nervous systems of grasshoppers

Nr. 154/2011 - 22.07.2011

(pug) The hormone erythropoietin, known as Epo, not only stimulates the formation of red blood cells and for this purpose is illegally used by athletes as a doping substance to enhance performance. Epo also protects nerve cells following stroke and promotes the regeneration of damaged neurons. These beneficial effects are not limited to humans and other mammalian species, but appear in insects as well. Scientists at the Göttingen University and the Göttingen Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine have – for the first time – proven the protective and regenerative effects of Epo in the nervous systems of grasshoppers. “Our results indicate that the Epo signalling system represents an ancient defence mechanism against a variety of tissue-damaging stimuli that was already present in the last common ancestor of humans and insects who lived around 500 to 600 million years ago,” explained the study's lead investigator, Professor Ralf Heinrich of the Faculty of Biology at the University. The scientific findings were published in the online edition of Neuroscience.

Previously, the positive effects of the hormone, which is primarily produced in the kidneys of adult humans, but also in other organs including the nervous system, were expected to exist in vertebrates only. In their experiments on cell cultures from grasshopper brains, the scientists found however that Epo promotes survival and the regeneration of axons and dendrites of individual neurons in these invertebrate creatures, too. In addition, the hormone enhanced the tolerance of the nerve cells to a lack of oxygen. The researchers moreover established that Epo supports the regeneration of severed auditory nerves in otherwise intact grasshoppers, thereby leading to a more rapid and complete restoration of hearing.

Although mammals and insects after separation of their evolutionary lines evolved independently into animals that on a first glance have not much in common, the Göttingen neurobiologists suspect that the tissue protective mechanisms in the two groups of organisms work in similar ways. “The protective and regenerative mechanisms of the Epo signalling systems in humans and other mammals are still poorly understood,” says Professor Heinrich. “Hence, insects and other groups of invertebrates might help clinical researchers to understand the Epo-mediated processes in the human body."

Original publication: Daniela Ostrowski, Hannelore Ehrenreich, Ralf Heinrich. Erythropoietin promotes survival and regeneration of insect neurons in vivo and in vitro. Neuroscience 188 (2011). Doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.05.018

Contact adress:
Prof. Dr. Ralf Heinrich
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen – Faculty of Biology
Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institute for Zoology and Anthropology – Cellular Neurobiology
Berliner Straße 28, 37073 Göttingen
Telefon (0551) 39-91183, Fax (0551) 39-5438
rheinri1@gwdg.de
Website: wwwuser.gwdg.de/~neuro/ag_heinrich/index.html