One man's meat is another man's fright! So goes a popular saying.
While a lot of people in our clime feel so disgusted at the mention of a cockroach, scientists are trying everything possible to decipher the medical use of the organisms.
Scientists are going the extra mile to breed them while they take a close look at cockroaches to explore their potential in medical treatment.
A current research led by Li Sheng, director of the Institute of Insect Science and Technology at South China Normal University in Guangzhou City focuses on the genetic code of the American cockroach.
According to Li, a cockroach has as many as 522 taste receptors, 329 of which have evolved into bitter receptors that respond to poisonous foods.
Li said: “They eat almost everything. They can do self-detoxification if they eat the wrong food.
“Even if it is beheaded, its body can still move for five or six days. If you cut its legs or antennae off, they will recover in just a few days and look almost the same as before.
He suggested that the factor in the body of cockroaches that helps them heal wounds and regenerate tissue might also be effective in repairing wounds to the human body.
The team’s research paper, “The genomic and functional landscapes of developmental plasticity in the American cockroach,” was published online in Nature Communications on March 21.
According to Li, cockroaches are an ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Extracts of active ingredients from cockroaches have also been used in modern Chinese clinics for more than 30 years, mainly to treat diseases such as gastric and oral ulcers.
Source: Hotsaint
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