The deer can do it, and eventually we can have that ability too. Each spring, deer antlers regrow, usually at a rate of one inch per day. Now scientists want to take the cells that grow deer antlers and figure out how to give humans the same ability. in a published study ScienceA team from Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xi’an, China, has succeeded in transplanting staghorn blastema progenitor cells into the foreheads of mice that grow into small stumps within 45 days.
The annual regrowth of deer antlers is a valuable model for studying organ regeneration in mammals, according to the study. This gave rise to the hope that one day it would be possible to grow human bone or cartilage through this research.
As he reported daily mailDeer antlers are the only known mammalian body part to regenerate each year and are one of the fastest growing mammalian tissues. The researchers studied these blastema cells in deer and found the cells that cause annual spring growth. Scientists soon discovered that, in the weeks leading up to antler shedding, stumps that never leave the deer have many stem cells that, after falling, develop into these horn blastema precursor cells, which then solidify into cartilage and bones.
The study says different mammals contain the same types of self-renewing cells, but only deer are using them. According to research, mammals have largely lost the ability to regenerate appendages or organs. “An exception is the annual renewal of deer antlers.” A cross-species comparison showed that the mouse had a similar cell type, but not the non-mammalian species, “suggesting that mammals may have a unique regeneration mechanism.”
Success in transferring these cells from deer to mice gives hope that it will one day have “a real application in clinical bone repair,” according to the study. “Furthermore, the conversion of human cells into ABPC-like cells could be used in regenerative medicine for skeletal injuries or limb regeneration.”
Source: Port Altele
