Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Man's Severed Finger Grows Back (part2 of 3)

VIDEO:

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continued from part 1



Human Tissue Regeneration – Junk Science or a Novel Prize Breakthrough?

A number of doctors however had criticized the extraordinary story of a regenerated finger. Dr. Stephen Minger, an expert on tissue regeneration and stem cells in Kings College in London, said that re-growing a finger by sprinkling it with powdered pig bladder, although theoretically possible, is definitely unlikely. He had explained that a finger is a very complex structure consisting of skin, fat, tendon, connective tissue, bone and blood vessels. All these complex tissues would have to grow in the right order and the right proportion and positions in relation to each other. The collagen dust would have to persuade the healing stump not to simply form a stump from a scar but to behave as it would have done in a baby growing inside a mother’s womb. He said that salamanders can do this because they have the mechanism to reprogram cells in the body enabling them to form tissues. Humans simply cannot do the same unless an artificial scaffold would be provided in a severed tissue to allow the cells of the tissue to grow into – just like heart valves being grown in laboratories. (part 3 up next...)


Written by: Guest Writer


Related stories:
Man's Severed Finger Grows Back (part1 of 3)
Man's Severed Finger Grows Back (part3 of 3)


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