Mammalian Regeneration

[GOURDHEAD]

Here is a story about growing replacement parts.

[Josh]

Interesting stuff! Isn't one of the main reasons we die of old age because our bodies lose the ability to regenerate and repair cells? Obviously early stages at the moment. Not much info on the mice nor on possible time frames for application to us.

Also, who'd want to be a lab mouse. sheesh.

[SpockJim]

Originally posted by Josh@Aug 31 2005, 04:16 AM
Interesting stuff! Isn't one of the main reasons we die of old age because our bodies lose the ability to regenerate and repair cells? Obviously early stages at the moment. Not much info on the mice nor on possible time frames for application to us.

Also, who'd want to be a lab mouse. sheesh.

Well sometimes testing on animals can prove good things like drugs to fight bacterium. But testing animals for regeration and going further to create a human body just for parts is just wrong.

[Josh]

I think the line there is blurred. I hate the idea of animal testing, I personally don't think we should be subjecting animals to anything we would subject humans to. Others disagree obviously thinking the common good (for humans) outweighs any bad for the lab animals. given that point of view, this research could help people with all sorts of diseases (heart, liver, ...). why should we try to understand how bacteria affect us so as to try and stop it but not try to cure these other diseases?

[Ola D.]

Here is a story about growing replacement parts.

That'll be easier than donating and implanting organs.

[Donnie B.]

Years ago I read a report about a study of regeneration in amphibians. The conclusion of the study was that the pain of the injury was critical in producing the regeneration. Anesthesia suppressed regrowth.

So let's imagine that this was applicable to mammals, and that a way was found to regrow a severed human limb -- but only if you were willing to be in constant pain for weeks or months as the process proceeded.

That would be a heck of a decision, eh?

[Lord Jubjub]

But for an amputee, I'm not sure it wouldn't be worth it--depending on the level of pain, of course.

[Torg]

Humans can actually regenerate some parts naturally. Everyone can regenerate their liver even if 90% of it is gone, and very young children (toddler age and younger) can regenerate fingertips, including the last finger bone and fingernail, even if the last finger joint is completely lost.

[TheBlackCat]

If we were to stop animal testing, it would be the complete and total end of all medical and biological science. We would have no new drugs, no new therapies, no further knowledge of subcellular, cellular, organ, and systems biology. Medicine and biology will be stuck at there present state. Basically all of our medical and biological research requires animal testing. MRI's, EKG's, and dissecting cadavers can only take us so far, we need animal models to really understand how these systems are working. Animal testing is not some minor, cruel thing people do that we can just do away with without any problem, it is the core of modern biomedical research. It is like doing astronomy with no telescopes (including radio telescopes, X-ray telescopes, etc), or doing chemistry without glassware (or some equivalent thing to do reactions in). It is okay if you want that, but just be aware of the implications of what you are proposing.

As for this research, I need to know more about what is happening here to really comment, and know about the long-term impact on the rats. Biological problems are seldom this simple and straightforward. So far pretty much every "magic bullet" people have found in biology to cure some problem has turned out to be much more complicated than they originally expected. I do have so serious questions. How could liver cells from one mouse cause genetic changes in unrelated cells in other mice? How come those liver cells weren't rejected like every other foreign cell? Another issue is that having these traits provides a massive evolutionary advantage. The question become why these genes are switched off if they are so helpful.

[sarongsong]

Years ago I read a report about a study of regeneration in amphibians...

In his "The Body Electric" book, Robert O. Becker describes using electricity to regenerate amphibian limbs.

[publiusr]

But it awoke with a flat head and bolts in its neck...