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7.03.2009

Humans could regrow their own body parts like some amphibians, claim scientists

·Regenerating your own amputated arms and legs, broken spines and even damaged brains is the stuff of superheroes - but it could one day be a reality, claim scientists.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/5710718/Humans-could-regrow-their-own-body-parts-like-some-amphibians-claim-scientists.html
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/axolotl.jpg
Researchers looking into how salamanders are able to to regrow their damaged bodies have discovered that the "almost magical ability" is closer to human healing than first thought.
[...]
The amphibians are almost unique in that if they lose a limb, a small bump forms over the injury called a blastema. Within about three weeks this blastema transforms into a new, fully functioning replacement limb without any scarring.
[...]
Scientists, studying the Axolotl salamander, native to Mexico, had long thought the amphibious creature's capabilities were down to so-called "pluripotent" cells, which had the uncanny ability to morph into whatever appendage, organ or tissue happens to be needed or due for a replacement.
But a paper in the journal Nature debunks that notion, discovering that the regenerative process is like a much more sophisticated version of healing in humans and other mammals. They found that repairs were down to much more standard stem cells – like those in mammals – but with the ability to reorganise themselves in the correct order to rebuild the body.
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