Posted on 11/03/2007 4:39:05 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
WASHINGTON: Researchers in Britain discovered a protein's molecular signal that apparently plays a key role in allowing newts, which are amphibians to re-grow severed limbs, a report in the journal Science says.
The finding could provide insights in the field of regenerative medicine relating to mammals and humans, said Anoop Kumar of the University College London (UCL), the report's main author.
Biologists have long been intrigued at how newts and other amphibians can re-grow severed limbs, never fully understanding the biological process.
The protein called nAG, produced by nerve and skin cells, apparently plays a key role in stimulating blastema cells, the undifferentiated cells from which a new organ or limb can grow, Kumar and colleagues at University College London and AA Garza-Garcia at the National Institute for Medical Research in London found.
Both neurons and epidermal cells near the wound secrete the protein.
Researchers discovered however that even when the nerve was severed beneath the stump tip, they could prompt formation of a blastema by inducing cells artificially to express the protein.
Understanding such molecular signals could be key to scientists some day carrying out cellular regeneration of missing parts of the human body.
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Gee, I didn't see the words "embryonic stem cells" anywhere. That just can't be right--I thought that it was going to be absolutely necessary to kill babies in order to re-grow body parts.
I’m sure O.J. doesn’t want this technology developed, no reason...
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