Posted on 08/08/2010 12:48:43 PM PDT by neverdem
Two research reports published Friday offer novel approaches to the age-old dream of regenerating the body from its own cells.
Animals like newts and zebra fish can regenerate limbs, fins, even part of the heart. If only people could do the same, amputees might grow new limbs and stricken hearts be coaxed to repair themselves.
But humans have very little regenerative capacity, probably because of an evolutionary trade-off: suppressing cell growth reduced the risk of cancer, enabling humans to live longer. A person can renew his liver to some extent, and regrow a fingertip while very young, but not much more.
In the first of the two new approaches, a research group at Stanford University led by Helen M. Blau, Jason H. Pomerantz and Kostandin V. Pajcini has taken a possible first step toward unlocking the human ability to regenerate. By inactivating two genes that work to suppress tumors, they got mouse muscle cells to revert to a younger...
--snip--
In recent years, most research in the field of regenerative medicine has focused on the hope that stem cells, immature cells that give rise to any specific type of cell needed in the body, can somehow be trained to behave as normal adult cells do. Nature’s method of regeneration is quite different in that it starts with the adult cells at the site of a wound and converts the cells to a stemlike state in which they can grow and divide.
The Stanford team has taken a step toward mimicking the natural process. “What I like is that it’s built on what’s happening in nature,” Dr. Blau said. “We mammals lost this regenerative capacity in order to have better tumor suppression, but if we reawaken it in a careful way we could make use of it in a clinical setting.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
IMHO, ignore that sentence. Stents are used in a proceure called a percutaneous coronary intervention, (PCI). Initially they used bare-metal stents. They have since developed drug-eluting stents that inhibit blood clot formation, IIRC. It's a minimally invasive approach through the femoral artery in the groin up into and through the aorta to the coronary arteries.
Coronary artery bypass grafts initially required chests being opened. It has evolved into a minimally invasive procedure using incisions in the chest only big enough for the surgeons to manipulate their instruments when a person has documented three or four bad coronary arteries, IIRC.
Transient Inactivation of Rb and ARF Yields Regenerative Cells from Postmitotic Mammalian Muscle
Ping....
First, we need to regenerate our country.
Thanks for the ping!
You’re welcome, Alamo-Girl!
Freebie? I was kind of expecting a buffet...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.