Transcript Regeneration of a Finger

Regeneration of a Finger
Kevin Murphy
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 couldn’t 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.
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.
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.
Regeneration of a finger
• A store owner got the tip of this finger cut off by the engine of a model
airplane, and they couldn’t 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.
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 1960’s, when they where taken in the army.
 http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographicchannel/full-episodes/explorer/ngc-how-to-build-a-beating-heart/
Future Direction
• Since 2004 scientists have been working of ways to rejuvenate aging
stem cells which aren’t 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.
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 don’t 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 won’t 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.
Bibliography
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"Finger Regenerated Using Pig Bladder Extract." - Softpedia. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.
<http://news.softpedia.com/news/Finger-Regenerated-Using-Pig-Bladder-Extract84827.shtmlhttp%3A//news.softpedia.com/news/Finger-Regenerated-Using-Pig-BladderExtract-84827.shtml%20>.
National Geographic. National Geographic. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.
<http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/fullepisodes/explorer/ngc-how-to-build-a-beating-heart/>.
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. <http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/ctco-rfb102809.php>.
"Transplantation." Regenerative Medicine and Organ : Past, Prese... :. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.
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Zuouloulou. "Regrowing Magic Dust Regenerative Medecine Matristem." YouTube. YouTube,
28 Apr. 2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTtOZrSRpc>.