We all know that salamanders are capable of growing a new leg to replace those which are lost. Are other vertebrates capable of such an amazing feat? According to a research team at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, this is indeed possible. In fact, they have managed to regenerate a wing in a chick embryo -- a species not known to be able to regrow limbs. Although the findings do not yet apply to humans, this makes for a terrific start. A snippet from ScienceDaily is as follows."In this simple experiment, we removed part of the chick embryo's wing, activated Wnt signaling, and got the whole limb back - a beautiful and perfect wing," said the lead author, Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, Ph.D., a professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory. "By changing the expression of a few genes, you can change the ability of a vertebrate to regenerate their limbs, rebuilding blood vessels, bone, muscles, and skin - everything that is needed."
This new discovery "opens up an entirely new area of research," Belmonte says. "Even though certain animals have lost their ability to regenerate limbs during evolution, conserved genetic machinery may still be present, and can be put to work again," he said. Previously, scientists believed that once stem cells turned into muscles, bone or any other type of cells, that was their fate for life -- and if those cells were injured, they didn't regenerate, but grew scar tissue.
Link & Image: ScienceDaily
Image: Djkubik
Tags: Chick | Limb | Regeneration | Science
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