Scientific American has an interesting article on the possibility of limb regeneration in humans, and how the human body reacts during an amputation compared with a salamander, which will regenerate the lost body part.

The gold standard for limb regeneration is the salamander, which can grow perfect replacements for lost body parts throughout its lifetime. Understanding how can provide a road map for human limb regeneration.

The early responses of tissues at an amputation site are not that different in salamanders and in humans, but eventually human tissues form a scar, whereas the salamander’s reactivate an embryonic development program to build a new limb.

Learning to control the human wound environment to trigger salamanderlike healing could make it possible to regenerate large body parts.

One of the most encouraging signs that human limb regeneration is a feasible goal is the fact that our fingertips already have an intrinsic ability to regenerate. This observation was made first in young children more than 30 years ago, but since then similar findings have been reported in teenagers and even adults. Fostering regeneration in a fingertip amputation injury is apparently as simple as cleaning the wound and covering it with a simple dressing.

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Tags:Artificial Limbs,Cartilage Regeneration,Human Body Parts,Missing Limbs,Nerve Regeneration,Phantom Limb Pain,Prosthetic Limbs,What Is Regeneration