Regeneration of a Finger

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Regeneration of a Finger

• Kevin Murphy

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History of Regenerative Medicine

• The first studies of cell regeneration was done
  by Thomas H. Morgan in 1901.
• His study concluded that regeneration occurs in
  special circumstances in which cell growth and
  replacement take place with in the organism.
• In 1920, Hans Spemann studied earthworms. When he
  couldnt find out why earthworms could regenerate
  scientists started transplanting random organs
  and limbs from many different organisms. One day
  Robert Briggs and Thomas kings transplanted a
  frogs nuclei into a frog egg and the result was a
  clone which raised questions about the limits of
  what cells r capable of .
• In 1934, Thomas H. Morgan realized that there are
  2 types of cell regeneration. In one type, the
  new cell develops by remodeling of the old cell.
  In the other the new cell is formed out of the
  material of the old cell.

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History continued

• In 1939, Paul Weiss defined regeneration as the
  repair by growth and differentiation of damage
  suffered by an organism past the phase of
  primordial development.
• In 1969, Charles Bodemer hypothesized, since some
  organisms evolved that ability to scare, but as
  they evolved this ability the ability to
  regenerate damaged body parts was lost.
• In 1981, Martin Evans and Gail Martin managed to
  cultured mouse embryonic stem cells and turned
  them into regular cells. This raised questions
  about whether culturing human embryonic stem
  cells might be possible.
• In 1998, the push to find ways to culture stem
  cells for clinical purposes began.
• Now there are many lines of regenerative research
  that have converged which is called regenerative
  medicine.

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Current Direction

• Currently doctors/surgeons are transplanting stem
  cells.
• Surgeons can manipulate ones own stem cells to
  grow into a body part that the patient needs.
• Researchers are currently using scaffolding
  materials that emit biochemical signals that draw
  in stems cells and will regenerate into what the
  patient needs.
• Stem cells are currently used to heal broken
  bones and bad burns in a time period of a week to
  two weeks to fully heal.

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Regeneration of a finger

• A store owner got the tip of this finger cut off
  by the engine of a model airplane, and they
  couldnt find the tip of the finger.
• The store owner has a brother in the
  tissue-regeneration business who told him to
  forego a skin graft and instead put a powder
  taken from pig's bladder, that is void of all
  cells, and put it on the raw finger tip. 
• The powder consisted of extracellular matrix,
  which houses the signals that direct cells to
  divide and build themselves into a specific form.
• Scientists believed that when a fetus reaches
  full development, this extracellular matrix stops
  functioning.  But the extracellular matrix from a
  pig can kick start certain types of regeneration.
  
• In this case when the finger got severed, the
  cells die, and their contents seep into the
  surrounding tissue. The immune systems number one
  defense against this is to cause inflammation and
  scaring of the severed area.

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Finger regeneration continued

• When extracellular matrix is applied to a wound,
  it doesn't trigger an immune response. Instead,
  when it begins to break down into surrounding
  tissue, it causes the cells in that tissue to
  start repairing the damage the way they would in
  a developing fetus. They divide and rebuild,
  creating new normal tissue, not scar tissue.
• Months later, the store owner had regrown the
  finger tip, tissue, nerves, skin, fingernail and
  all. He even has the same finger print that he
  had back in the 1960s, when they where taken in
  the army.
• http//video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national
  -geographic-channel/full-episodes/explorer/ngc-how
  -to-build-a-beating-heart/

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Future Direction

• Since 2004 scientists have been working of ways
  to rejuvenate aging stem cells which arent as
  effective at repairing damaged body parts.
• Researchers are close to healing blindness,
  deafness, heart damage, Parkinson's disease, and
  many other conditions using rejuvenated stem
  cells.
• Regenerative medicine will one day replace the
  field of prosthetics because if you have a
  damaged body part, your doctors will be able to
  remove the damaged organ or limb and grow you a
  new one.
• Researchers are currently wondering if brain
  regenerative medicine can heal and rejuvenate a
  patients aging brain, like they can do with other
  organs.
• With regenerative medicine, researchers are
  predicting a drastic increase in the human life
  span.

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Limitations

• The main limitation of regenerative medicine is
  the costs. The cost to regrow a damaged heart is
  750,000, and the cost to regrow lungs and
  kidneys is 200,000 each.
• Currently regenerative medicines work best for
  the youth because stem cells in adults dont have
  the healing capabilities that kids do. Until
  researchers find ways to rejuvenate adult stem
  cell, the organs that can be grown by these old
  cells, will only last a limited number of years.
• The elderly wont be able to use regenerative
  medicine altogether because their stem cells will
  be to old and the organs grown by them will only
  last a few months at best.

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Bibliography

• "Finger Regenerated Using Pig Bladder Extract." -
  Softpedia. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. lthttp//news.softped
  ia.com/news/Finger-Regenerated-Using-Pig-Bladder-E
  xtract-84827.shtmlhttp3A//news.softpedia.com/news
  /Finger-Regenerated-Using-Pig-Bladder-Extract-8482
  7.shtml20gt.
• National Geographic. National Geographic. Web. 18
  Oct. 2012. lthttp//video.nationalgeographic.com/vi
  deo/national-geographic-channel/full-episodes/expl
  orer/ngc-how-to-build-a-beating-heart/gt.
• Maienschein, Jane. "Regenerative Medicine in
  Historical Context." Medicine Studies 1.1 (2009)
  33-40. Print.
• "Researchers Find Brain Cell Transplants Help
  Repair Neural Damage." EurekAlert!Web. 18 Oct.
  2012. lthttp//www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009
  -10/ctco-rfb102809.phpgt.
• "Transplantation." Regenerative Medicine and
  Organ Past, Prese... . Web. 18 Oct. 2012.
  lthttp//journals.lww.com/transplantjournal/Fulltex
  t/2011/06270/Regenerative_Medicine_and_Organ_Trans
  plantation_.2.aspxgt.
• Zuouloulou. "Regrowing Magic Dust Regenerative
  Medecine Matristem." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Apr.
  2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. lthttp//www.youtube.com/w
  atch?vZnTtOZrSRpcgt.