It's a miracle: mice regrow hearts - [stunning news about tissue regeneration]

The Australian ^ | August 29, 2005

[gratham pitt]

"The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed."
Patrick Henry,
Wirt Henry's, Life, vol. II, p. 621

[joe_broadway]

Those Bobbitt references are really cutting it close.

[Born Conservative]

I thought it must be a hoax as it's almost too good to be true.

Probably more like "too late to benefit you and me".

I just got on the transplant list 2 weeks ago, and got my AV fistula last week. Creatinine is 14.7 and dropping.

[Born Conservative]

Duh, GFR is 14.7 and dropping; Creatinine is 4.7 and rising.

[marty60]

Yeah I know how you feel. I was so happy, and my Doc said my bod was doing some regenerating. Weird but boy Am I happy about it. My arterie is completely gone to, but if everything keeps on track, I won't need surgery either, pray. God works miracles. He created these great organisims called human bodies.

[William Terrell]

You're going to need serious therapy when interspecies evolution is undeniably debunked.

[1lawlady]

We're twinsies. I got my A-V fistula on Tuesday. I got a Canon catheter in the chest now. Have to wait 6 months for the A-V to cure. Are you as brusied up as I am? I've got some paresthesias in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers. I'm told this is the "Steal Syndrome." The name tells it all. How's yours coming along?

I'm told I'm on the transplant list with USC, but have to wait until Jan. '06 to be cancer free for 2 years. When I threw a fit about them not putting me on the list until Jan. '06 they finally did. Well, I think they did. I couldn't imagine them not crediting that 2-year wait to my list time. B/C communication is so bad with USC, in addition, I am going to register with Stanford or UCSF in October. My only saving grace is that I'll be 60 in January and can qualify for an old person's kidney, e.g. "the short list".

[Born Conservative]

My fistula is doing pretty well. My fistula is below the crease of my elbow, because the vessels in my forearm are too small to put it lower. I had a lot of bruising 2 days after the surgery on my lower forearm, but I think it was because I overdid it at work that day. Yesterday, I spent time playing on the computer, and there is now a hard lump over my fistula, but it went down somewhat over night. Intermittent paresthesias, but not too bad.

What blood type are you? I'm A-, and I'm told that's not too bad a type to have for a transplant as far as wait time. O is the longest, because an O person can only receive an O organ, whereas an A can receive A or O, a B can receive B or O, and AB can receive any type. I'm told the average wait time for our area is about 1.5 years. I opted on to the "short list" (they allowed me to even though I'm 42), and I have the option to take an older kidney, but can refuse it if it's offered and I decide against it. It sounds as though each region has slightly different policies.

Good luck. Keep me updated.

[1lawlady]

I'm A+. We could donate to each other, but not going there, eh? My fistula is at my wrist. Doctor thought my vessels might be too small for the wrist, but so far so good. Just now I finally find out the restrictions on the use of the arm. But what's a gal with bad kidneys going to do? Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea as my English nurse says. I say, "Thank G-d for modern medicine. Let's press on in spite of it all."

[Maigrey]

But there was one part of the article that will make all of this ethically questionable: the researchers utilized fetal cells to form the regeneration.

So, when will they begin the experiments utilizing non-fetal cells for this research? Until then, I won't be choosing to subsidize these endeavors.

Tho it is impressive, but not at the cost of life itself.

[Born Conservative]

The situation definitely has it's ups and downs, but we both need to think positive; things WILL get better. I hear ya about the restrictions, but I figure that's somewhat minor compared to the alternative. Great to hear you have a good blood type (as far as receiving organs goes).

[snarks_when_bored]

Note that these are experiments involving mice, not humans. I understand your concern, but what appears to be happening is that in the human case researchers are finding ways around the fetal cell bottleneck by using clever chemical baths to modify mature cells. Let's hope that continues.

[grey_whiskers]

Sorry, just found this whilst looking for something else.

Have you seen or heard any follow-up?

...and isn't it just a little bit odd that someone named Katz is trying to regrow limbs in mice?

Cheers!

[snarks_when_bored]

A brief scroogle search on "Heber-Katz" turns up a few things. For example:

From Ellen Heber-Katz forecasts the future (18 Nov 2006)

I believe that the day is not far off when we will be able to prescribe drugs that cause severed spinal cords to heal, hearts to regenerate and lost limbs to regrow. People will come to expect that injured or diseased organs are meant to be repaired from within, in much the same way that we fix an appliance or automobile: by replacing the damaged part with a manufacturer-certified new part. Advances in heart regeneration are around the corner, digits will be regrown within five to ten years, and limb regeneration will occur a few years later. Central nervous system repair will occur first with the retina and optic nerve and later with the spinal cord. Within 50 years whole-body replacement will be routine.

And here's a BBC article from 2006:

Mouse sheds light on regeneration (11 Apr 2006)

Most of this stuff will probably be too late for our generation, though...