Human Tissue Regeneration – Junk Science or a Novel Prize Breakthrough?
Unlike salamanders and sponges, humans, or any mammal for that matter are incapable of growing back limbs or organs lost in accidents or similar events. However, there have been claims made recently regarding the possibility of tissue regeneration. Lee Spievack, a model aircraft enthusiast from Cincinnati Ohio, and his brother Alan, a former surgeon from Harvard and a physician doing research on tissue growth, had said that severed tissues can regenerate when sprinkled with “pixie dust.” Lee who had lost a finger due to a model aircraft propeller in 2005 was convinced by his brother to sprinkle pixie dust on the stump of his lost finger. To Spievack’s amazement, his finger grew back within four weeks of sprinkling the substance.
At the University of Pittsburgh, this pixie dust is referred to as extra cellular matrix from the cells of a pig’s bladders. After the matrix is scraped from the bladder it is dried out and the tissues are formed into sheets or powder. This collagen powder provides a suitable framework for stimulating tissue re-growth and cell division if sprinkled on a wound. According to Dr. Stephen Badylack, the original developer of the pixie dust, the substance consists of a mixture of protein and connective tissues already used by surgeons in repairing tendons. It forms microscopic scaffolding for human cells to occupy and emit chemical signals that encourage other cells to regenerate tissue instead of forming scars. (to be continued)
Written by: Guest Writer
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Man's Severed Finger Grows Back (part2 of 3)
Man's Severed Finger Grows Back (part3 of 3)
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