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Would It be Possible for Human Beings to Regenerate Digits and Limbs?

by Dr. Trupti Shirole on Feb 10 2016 8:35 PM

Unlocking the complex biological and regenerative processes that would enable humans to regrow digits and limbs would change the quality of life for amputees.

 Would It be Possible for Human Beings to Regenerate Digits and Limbs?
Unlocking the complex biological and regenerative processes that would enable humans to regrow digits and limbs would radically change the prognosis and quality of life for amputees, suggests a new study.
The study titled 'Looking Ahead to Engineering Epimorphic Regeneration of a Human Digit or Limb', is published in Tissue Engineering, Part B, Reviews.

The research team explored the highly ambitious goal of epimorphic regeneration in humans, which would require the regrowth of multiple tissues that would then need to be assembled in the proper conformation and patterns to create a fully functional limb.

The authors approach this fascinating subject - a combination of the latest advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine - by examining the process of human digit healing and published reports of regenerative potential. They provide a comprehensive look at the processes of epimorphic regeneration in non-mammalian systems and describe some mammalian models of regeneration, including the digit tip of the mouse. This model can serve as a comparison of regeneration-competent and regeneration-incompetent tissue in the same animal.

Co-Editor-in-Chief John P. Fisher, Professor and Associate Chair, Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, said, "There is a critical need to develop engineered tissues with complex physiologies, such as a complete limb, and the paper by Quijano and colleagues identifies some of the key components required for these developments."

Source-Eurekalert


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