Saturday 21 June 2014

Salamanders Give Clues to How We Might Regrow Human Limbs (Op-Ed)

By Max Yun, University College London | June 20, 2014 02:52am ET

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Humans have some regenerative abilities but compared to creatures like the salamander, which has an amazing ability to regenerate after injury, we’re pretty limited. Not only are salamanders the only adult vertebrates able to regrow full limbs, they’re able to regenerate an impressive repertoire of complex structures including parts of their hearts, eyes, spinal cord and tails.

In recent years, researchers have been studying salamander regeneration in the hope that the knowledge gathered would contribute to understanding how can they regenerate, and how to promote human regeneration.

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