Frogs are often used in medical research and medicines. I really think it is cool that frogs can have such a great impact on science. I mean, who knows what researchers will find out with frogs next!
A new type of antibiotic?
Another perculiarity of frogs which of interest to science is their ability to survive in bacteria-filled water without wounds becoming infected. Studying this property of
Xenopus laevis, Michael Zasloff, discovered a new class of antibiotic compounds in 1987.
2 Their skin contains natural antibiotic peptides which he called 'magainins'. They are active against many disease-causing organisms, and may provide a future solution to the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They also present new questions about the immune system and whether higher animals have a similar front-line chemical defence against disease.
the place I got that from was a website about animal research. It is a really cool website if you like science(or even if you don't).
Transparent frogs
Recently, the first transparent animal with four legs was developed a Horoshima University in Japan. Japanese brown frogs Rana japonica, were bred, selecting for the recessive trait of light-coloured skin, until fully transparent frogs were born. The internal organs, eggs and other internal parts of the frog can be clearly viewed through the skin, making it a great model for studying many aspects of physiology in a whole, living body. By fusing genes for fluorescent proteins to the frog’s genes, the research team responsible for this development hope to create frogs that glow. Glowing frogs help in the study of specific genes as the frogs will glow, providing a visual indication, when those genes become active.
“Transparent frogs will prove useful as laboratory animals because they make it easier and cheaper to observe the development and progress of cancer, the growth and aging of internal organs, and the effects of chemicals on organs.” Masayuki Sumida, Hiroshima University
Wow! see through frogs! that's really cool. Not only will they be able to learn about frogs, they will be able to learn about people and how to treat people with things like organ problems. (I noticed that it was talking about glowing frogs, that would be pretty cool too! :D ) This frog research is a great thing for frogs, humans, and other animals too. if you want to read more of the (really cool!) website, here is the link:
frogs in medical research
This research is really helpful and I am really amazed by it. It is also another great example of why frogs need to be saved. If a frog that could have given us a cure to some incurable disease, and it went extinct tomorrow, we might never have the cure again. (part two will be posted tomorrow)
