God May Hate Amputees, But Science Doesn't

Mia Moore

Modeled after the salamander's ability to re-grow limbs, researchers are now trying to regenerate body parts to treat amputations and major wounds. Salamanders are the most complex life form known to regenerate limbs, and it can do so, over and over again well into it's adult life. Although the early stages of the healing process in humans are similar to a salamanders, the process changes in and our wounds become a scar instead using our common ability to reactivate this capability during our embryonic state. If a way to manipulate the healing process is discovered, if would be possible to harness this capability.

Indeed, when we consider all that we have learned about wound healing and regeneration from studies in various animal models, the surprising conclusion is that we may be only a decade or two away from a day when we can regenerate human body parts. The striking contrast between the behavior of fibroblasts in directing the regeneration response in salamanders versus the fibrotic response leading to scarring in mammals suggests that the road to successful regeneration is lined with these cells. Equally encouraging is the recent discovery by Howard Y. Chang and John L. Rinn of Stanford University that adult human fibroblasts, like salamander fibroblasts, retain a memory of the spatial coordinate system used to establish the body plan early in the embryo's development. Given that such positional information is re -quired for regeneration in salamanders, its existence in human fibroblasts enhances the feasibility of tapping into and activating developmental programs necessary for regeneration.

Now, as we watch a salamander grow back an arm, we are no longer quite as mystified by how it happens. Soon humans might be able to harness this truly awesome ability ourselves, replacing damaged and diseased body parts at will, perhaps indefinitely.