When it comes to limb regeneration, the salamander is immediately remembered, whose tail grows again after loss. But did you know that mammals, including humans, are also able to regenerate individual parts of the body, in particular fingertips?
In 2010, an accident happened with an American named Deepa Kulkarni - she accidentally slammed the door on her fingers. Doctors deprived the woman of any hope, saying that it was no longer possible to sew the severed fingertips. Fortunately, the woman turned to another doctor. Stefan Badilack of the University of Pittsburgh promised to completely repair his injured limb with a magical powder called MatriStem. It took Dr. Badilak seven weeks to get his fingertips to grow again.
Most likely, this worked only because part of the nail remained intact. This conclusion was made by biologist and dermatologist Mayumi Ito from Langoun Medical Center, New York University. The scientist and his colleagues discovered in the root of the nail a new group of stem cells that contribute to the regeneration of amputated limbs in mice, but the preservation of a small part of the nail is a prerequisite here. These cells can also stimulate bone repair, which takes several weeks.
The fact is, there is connective tissue around the nail that produces Wnt proteins, which, together with nerve cells, help stem cells to produce substances to restore bone and tissue growth.
Scientists wondered if the fingertips could recover if a significant portion of the tissue around the nail was lost. As it turned out, it is possible to stimulate the process of protein production by the genetic method. This made it possible to completely restore the amputated limb in the mouse. The work was published in the journal Nature.
Scientists hope that the results will help in creating technology for the regeneration of amputated limbs in humans.
Meanwhile, a biodegradable plastic has been developed at the University of Southampton, with which broken or broken bones can be fused.
The article is based on materials .
Comments
Post a Comment