Characterization of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in the sea cucumber <em>Holothuria glaberrima</em> and possible roles during Intestinal regeneration.

Abstract

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are widely known for their ability to induce bone formation in development and/or when it has been some damage in bone tissue. Nonetheless, these proteins are also involved on many other processes and exert their functions in other tissues. The BMPs are recently study in cancer, possible therapy for repairing cardio vascular tissues and in regeneration process. Our lab focus the study on understanding the dynamics of regeneration process once there is loss or damaged to a tissue, to bring an insight of which are the mechanisms that ensure a complete regeneration. The phylum of Echinoderms possess impressive regenerative capacities, which makes them a great example of model systems to study and comprehend the regeneration process. Our model system, the Caribbean Sea cucumber <em>Holothuria glaberrima</em> helps us understand how the regeneration is accomplished since this echinoderm is able to regenerate most of its organs once they are eviscerated. Here we explore the functions of BMPs under the intestinal regeneration since previous studies in our lab prove that these proteins were present during this process. We used pharmacological agents to see how the BMPs played a role in the process of regeneration. Our results demonstrates that these proteins compromised the muscle cell dedifferentiation, cell proliferation and affect the variability of the blastema size during the intestinal regeneration.