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Mexican Axolotl: Key To Regeneration In Humans

Mexican Axolotl: Key To Regeneration In Humans

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Scientists are studying Mexican Axolotl &lpar;salamander&rpar; to determine how it is able to regenerate their limbs&comma; hoping to develop a process to replace human members&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Scientists hope to Learn from the Salamander Regeneration Process<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A team of scientists has received &dollar; 6&period;25 million from the Department of Defense of the United States to study the axolotl&comma; a salamander Mexico known for its ability to regenerate limbs&comma; hoping that this knowledge will help scientists to someday induce regeneration of a human limb&period; Humans have the ability to regenerate fingertips &comma; reuters reports&comma; but the lack of ability to regenerate complex body extremities like the axolotl&comma; which can regenerate jaws&comma; skin&comma; organs and parts of brain and spine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">en Muneoka&comma; professor of cell and molecular biology at Tulane University is the leader of the science team&comma; and informed the New Orleans Times-Picayune that his team is trying to delineate the axolotl genome and compare it with the genes of a mouse&comma; similar to that of humans to figure out what is missing and what is correlated with non-regenerative response&period; Essential healing process after losing a limb is similar in salamanders and in humans&period; Fibroblasts in wound scene produce an extracellular matrix&comma; for both humans and other mammals&comma; fibroblasts produce excessive matrix that forms scar tissue&period; Salamanders fibroblasts&comma; however&comma; stop their action once the normal architecture has been restored&period; Salamanders then form a blastema&comma; a clump of cells similar to stem cells&comma; that will become a new limb&period; The cells in the blastema are similar to those present in the salamander embryos&comma; indicating that the regenerative process is essentially the summation of the formation of the limb that occurred during the original development of the animal&period; Therefore&comma; the key to scientists is to determine how to prevent the human body forms scar tissue&comma; resulting in the production of a blastema instead&period; The hope for human limb regeneration was proposed last year&comma; when a 69 year old man regenerated half inch of his finger using a powder made &quest;&quest;extracellular matrix of cells from a pig bladder&period; He got this through its brother&comma; Dr&period; Stephen Badylak&comma; who studies regeneration at the University of Pittsburgh&period; Badylak explained to the BBC&colon; &&num;8220&semi;We have removed many of the stimuli for scar tissue formation and maintained those signs have always been there for constructive remodeling&period; &&num;8221&semi; Muneoka&comma; Han and Gardiner have optimistic views about the prospect for human regeneration &period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Background&colon; Regeneration in Animals<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A small group of animals&comma; mostly invertebrates&comma; has the ability to regenerate body extremities &period; Sponges&comma; the hydra&comma; planarian worms plans and starfish can regenerate their whole bodies from a small collection of cells&period; Earthworms can regenerate the rear sections of their bodies if the bodies were not injured front explains the Internet Encyclopedia of Science&period; Crabs&comma; lobsters and crabs can regenerate limbs river&comma; like some insects&period; limb regeneration in vertebrates is rather low&period; It is known that can regenerate their tails lizards hind limbs although new addition usually smaller than the original&comma; according to the encyclopedia&period; Otters and salamanders can regenerate their hind legs&comma; tails and even eyes&period; Humans and other mammals have shown no ability to regenerate limbs yet complete&comma; although humans can regenerate the tips of the fingers and parts of the liver&period;Regeneration Laboratory&comma; University of California Irving&comma; led by Drs Gardiner and Susan V&period; Bryant explains that &&num;8220&semi;mammals have some regenerative abilities&comma; and should recognize that regeneration is a basic biological process present in all animals &period; It&&num;8217&semi;s just that the salamanders are exceptionally good at it&period; &&num;8220&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter" title&equals;"Mexican Axolotl Key To Regeneration In Humans" alt&equals;"Mexican Axolotl Key To Regeneration In Humans" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;dinkeskaltim&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;11&sol;Mexican-Axolotl-Key-To-Regeneration-In-Humans&period;jpg" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"450" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The Mexican axolotl &lpar;pronounced axolotl &rpar; is a salamander with the unusual feature of retaining its larval features into adulthood&period; This condition is known as neotenia means retaining its dorsal tadpole &&num;8211&semi; it runs nearly its entire body&comma; and external gills &comma; which protrude from the rear of the broad head as feathers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The axolotl is found only in the lake complex of Xochimilco &lpar;pronounced Sochimilco &rpar; &comma; near the city of Mexico &comma; and differs from most other salamanders that live permanently in the water&period; In extremely rare cases &comma; the mature axolotl out of the water &comma; but in most cases prefer to remain at the bottom of the lakes and canals of Xochimilco&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The axolotl &comma; a close relative of the tiger salamander &comma; can be quite large &comma; reaching lengths of up to 30 inches &comma; but the average size is 15 cm &period; The axolotl is usually black or brown mottling &comma; are relatively common although albino and white varieties &comma; especially among captive bred &period; The axolotl is long-lived&comma; reaching up to 15 years feeding on mollusks &comma; worms &comma; insect larvae &comma; crustaceans&comma; and some fish &period; This species &comma; accustomed to the role of predator in its habitat &comma; has begun to suffer the introduction of large fish in the lake habitat &period; Among natural hazards include birds of prey such as herons &period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Its population is in decline&comma; as demand from the nearby city of Mexico has led to drain and contaminate much of the waters of the lake complex of Xochimilco&period; It is also very common use in the aquarium trade &comma; and roasted axolotl is considered a delicacy in Mexico &comma; which has led to their number is reduced even more &period; It is considered highly threatened &period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This animal guards so many interesting biological secrets&period; Things that would leave humans in a wheelchair or dead they can just repair in no time at all&period; The skin of the albino axolotl is transparent enough so that you can actually watch the organs and blood vessels as they pump and pulse under the surface&period; In juveniles&comma;it is possible to distinguish between the left and right hemispheres of the brain when peering through the translucent skin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The surprising conclusion is that we can be just one or two decades of the day we can regenerate human limbs&period; But if we can find out how they do it&comma; then apply these proven biological strategies we may get insights that help people recover from surgeries&comma; accidents or any sort of regenerative disease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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