What Processes Contribute to Organ Regeneration?

Regeneration of human organs requires the human body to have a very strong self-recovery ability. Now, artificial organ transplants can only be done in the near future, but some animals such as plane worms can do it, but humans still need to work hard.

Human organ regeneration

Scientists at the University of Nottingham in the UK have conducted research on the regenerative capacity of planarians' body parts, including the head and brain. One day this research may make it possible to regenerate aging or damaged human organs and tissues. Dr. Aziz Yabback, a member of the British Research Council at the University of Nottingham School of Biology, led the study, which revealed that a gene called "Smed-prep" apparently caused the Essential elements for proper brain regeneration.

Plana worms have the unique ability to regenerate parts of the body, including the head and brain, after being truncated. They contain mature stem cells that often divide and become all types of cells that are missing from the body. The study showed that when the body parts of plane worms regenerate, it is a set of genes that control this process, allowing them to regenerate limbs of the same size, shape and orientation in the correct position. The research results were published in the journal Public Science Library Genetics on the 22nd.

"These astounding worms provide us with a great opportunity to observe the tissue regeneration capabilities of a very simple animal. Their regenerable limbs are very wide and they are quite easy to regenerate. We want to make Understanding how mature stem cells can help any animal to form and regenerate damaged or lost organs and tissues. Understanding the regenerative capabilities of other animals will greatly benefit human regenerative medicine research. "

"If we know what happens when tissue regenerates under normal circumstances, we can conceive a safe way to replace human organs, tissues and cells that are damaged by trauma or disease. For example, this is a cure for Alzheimer's The disease is very valuable. With this knowledge, we can also assess what happens when stem cells make mistakes in the normal regeneration process, such as problems with blood stem cells, which can lead to leukemia. "

The researchers said that Smed-prep is a necessary factor for the correct differentiation and localization of the cells that make up the head of the planeworm, and it is also the key to determining the position of the head. They also found that although the emergence of Smed-prep is a determinant of the correct position of the head and brain, worm stem cells form brain cells under the influence of other unrelated genes. But even so, researchers said, without Smed-prep, these cells would not be able to organize themselves to form a normal brain.

Daniel Felix, a graduate student involved in the research, said on the 22nd: "Understanding the transformation and regeneration of tissues at the molecular level is essential for the study of regenerative medicine. Planworms are particularly famous for their strong regenerative capabilities. After the head was cut off, a new one was regenerated. Using Smed-prep's allogenes, we identified the first gene that plays a key role in achieving the above results and patterns during regeneration. This is an exciting Research project, I am very lucky to be able to participate in this research and use it as my thesis topic. "