Apple Snails können innerhalb von Monaten nach dem Amputieren ein funktionelles Auge vollständig nachwachsen. Forscher berichten in Nature Communications | Verstehen, wie die Schnecken ihre Augen regenerieren könnten

>A snail may hold the key to restoring vision for people with some eye diseases.

>Golden apple snails (*Pomacea canaliculata*) are freshwater snails from South America. Alice Accorsi became familiar with the species as a graduate student in Italy. “You could literally buy them in a pet store as snails that clean the bottom of the fish tanks,” she recalls. Turns out, the snails are among the most invasive species in the world. And that got Accorsi thinking: Why are they so resilient and able to thrive in new environments?

>She began studying the snails’ immune systems and has now found they are not the only parts of the animals able to bounce back from adversity. These snails can [completely regrow a functional eye](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61681-6) within months of having one amputated, Accorsi and colleagues report August 6 in *Nature Communications*.

>Scientists have known for centuries that some snails can regrow their heads, and research has revealed other animals can [regenerate bodies](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sea-slug-detached-head-crawl-regenerate-grow-new-body), [tails](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gecko-tail-regrow-regeneration-gene-editing-stem-cells) or [limbs](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/frog-leg-regeneration-new-device-regrow-amputation). But this finding is exciting because apple snails have camera-like eyes similar to those of humans. Understanding how the snails re-create or repair their eyes might lead to therapies to heal people’s eye injuries or reverse diseases such as macular degeneration.    

[Read more here](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/snail-human-eye-regeneration) and the [research article here](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61681-6).