Posted on 04/10/2006 8:51:41 PM PDT by neverdem
Stem cell therapy has long captured the limelight as a way to the goal of regenerative medicine, that of repairing the body with its own natural systems. But a few scientists, working in a relatively obscure field, believe another path to regenerative medicine may be as likely to succeed. The less illustrious approach is promising, in their view, because it is the solution that nature itself has developed for repairing damaged limbs or organs in a wide variety of animals.
Many species, notably amphibians and certain fish, can regenerate a wide variety of their body parts. The salamander can regenerate its limbs, its tail, its upper and lower jaws, the lens and the retina of its eye, and its intestine. The zebra fish will regrow fins, scales, spinal cord and part of its heart.
Mammals, too, can renew damaged parts of their body. All can regenerate the liver. Deer regrow their antlers, some at the rate of 2 centimeters a day, said to be the fastest rate of organ growth in animals. In many of these cases, regeneration begins when the mature cells at the site of a wound start to revert to an immature state. The clump of immature cells, known as a blastema, then regrows the missing part, perhaps by tapping into the embryogenesis program that first formed the animal.
Initiation of a blastema and the formation of the embryo are obviously separate biological programs, but "the processes must converge at some point," says Jeremy Brockes, a leading regeneration researcher at University College London.
The blastema seems to derive its instructions from the wound-site cells from which it was formed, and is quite impervious to cues from new surrounding tissue if it is transplanted. If a blastema made by sectioning a salamander's limb at the wrist is transplanted...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That's the URL of the page with the graphics on it. When you click on them, one has a pic from Getty which can't be posted, and the other is very big.
Stem cell ping
ping
Ok - what is really important here is: can i regrow my long lost hair? The stuff up top, selectively please, I don't need any more anywhere else.
I did not know that!
Very interesting article, though it's probably more science than tech, but still worth it IMHO.
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That's old news - that may be an actual therapy in the next few years
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002330.html
That third pathway for regeneration in the Science article is the most likely future of therapy. Here's 2 ongoing trials, right now:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00239148?order=46
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00239187?order=47
ping for a later read
for what it is worth: I hacked off the tip of my left index finger long ago, just above the nail bed. It mostly grew back, though it remains somewhat truncated and a bit sensitive to direct pressure - case in point: it is the first fingertip to call it "quits" when I type.
So is this more success in ADULT stem cell research? Amazing that the NYT even mentions it, though does the article ever actually SAY it is Adult Stem cells that are being used?
It's not embryonic stem cells that are being described. You usually read about this under the rubric of 'therapuetic'. Here the term regenerative medicine was used. It's the most basic - and yet complex - biology that needs to be understood.
Amazing that the NYT even mentions it, though does the article ever actually SAY it is Adult Stem cells that are being used?
When you can get away from politics, the NY Times can be excellent.
Isn't technology just applied science?
Thank you for the reminder. It's already posted.
Thanks for the links!
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