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Full limb/organ regeneration possible in mammals.

JOY NO WRY

14:49 / 01.09.05

The exact details of this study apparently aren't being released until next week, where they'll be presented at Cambridge, but I certainly find the claims very exciting. The mice used in the study had been genetically engineered for this, but apparently an injection of the liver cells taken from one of these genetically engineered mice whilst it was a fetus can confer the regenerative abilities to an organic mouse for about six months.

I'm sure we can all imagine the possibilities if this kind of thing could be successfully used on humans. Thalidomide victims given limbs, leprosy victims regaining sensation, restoring sight to the blind etc. Anybody have any thoughts on this?

The article I found announcing this is here.

bjacques

15:07 / 01.09.05

How about growing a tail where one wasn't before? Extra arms for people really into Hinduism?

JOY NO WRY

15:24 / 01.09.05

Actually there was a discussion on Slashdot similar to that. The question was whether this kind of therapy could be used, in conjunction of hormones, to create a physical sex change without surgical restructuring. I honestly have no idea whether such a thing would work, but seeing as its hormones that determine exactly what sex organs are grown in the first place it does seem plausible that you could remove the existing organ in order to grow something that wasn't there before. Sort of like growing a tail where you didn't have one before.

Quantum

15:56 / 01.09.05

One implication is that nerve regeneration could become possible- so repairing a severed spine for example would be easier than regrowing an arm. Good news for the wheelchair bound and locked-in of the future.

bjacques

17:16 / 01.09.05

Nanotubes are being considered alongside this, providing a matrix in (on?) which to regrow nerve cells or as an armature for slabs of beef (e.g.). Or wings.

JOY NO WRY

17:31 / 01.09.05

Yes, there do seem to be a lot of technologies working towards the same results. I seem to remember this sort of thing being one of the promised possibilities of stem cell research.

Evil Scientist

19:39 / 01.09.05

Extra arms would require some nifty re-programming of the nervous system. But there's no reason it wouldn't be possible given time. Wings would most likely only be for decorative value initially. Eagle wings grown to human size and surgically implanted on the back wouldn't automatically allow flight. Birds can only do it through serious evolutionary advantages like hollow bones (and anti-gravity beaks).

All Acting Regiment

19:50 / 01.09.05

This sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if I understand it- how would you make sure the injection caused you to grow what you needed instead of something you didn't?

Logos

01:05 / 02.09.05

Yeah, that's the big trick. Even wound healing is tricky beyond a certain size, in part because you don't have an underlying matrix to provide contextual clues for tissues to regrow properly. This is part of the reason why scars look funny--not only do they usually have extra keratin and other fiberous tissue to make them tougher, but the tissue has grown in a way which is different from that caused by normal development.

Several researhers have proposed regeneration schemes that basically recapitulate developmental processes, but the sequence of chemical signals is extraordinarily complex. Generating additional limbs, including wings on mammals, lacks either standard wound-healing processes or developmental markers, so you've got some pretty fancy footwork ahead of you to get to that point.

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