Melissa Bristow / Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
The discovery challenges the long-held belief that mammals do not have the biological capabilities to regenerate their tissues after injury.
Scientists at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have achieved a significant advance in regenerative medicine by successfully inducing growth of skeletal and connective tissue in mammals.
Although the regenerated tissue did not form perfectly, the researchers say the findings represent a major step toward understanding how humans might one day repair or even regenerate damaged body parts.
The , published in the journal Nature Communications, challenges the ancient belief that mammals do not have the biological capacity to regenerate complex structures after injuries. While animals like salamanders can regenerate limbs naturally, humans and most mammals often respond to severe injuries. producing scar tissue instead of rebuilding lost tissue, explains .
The investigation focused on redirect the body’s natural healing responseas the same cells responsible for the formation of scar tissue may also contain the hidden potential for regeneration.
When mammals suffer injuries, fibroblasts quickly close the wounds through a process known as fibrosiswhich creates scar tissue that prevents new tissue from growing. In species with regenerative capacity, however, similar cells form a structure called blastema, which serves as the basis for tissue reconstruction.
To test whether healing in mammals could be redirected toward regeneration, researchers developed a two-step treatment involving growth factors already widely studied in medicine. First, they applied fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) after wound closure, stimulating the formation of a blastema-like structure. Several days later, they introduced bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), which stimulated cells to begin rebuilding tissues.
The result was the growth of bone, tendons, ligaments and joint tissueorganized in a similar way to natural anatomy. Although the structures were incomplete and not identical to the original, the researchers described the result as a “complete” regenerative response at the level of the lesion studied.
One of the study’s most notable findings is that the regeneration may not require external therapies with stem cells. Instead, scientists believe that the necessary cells already exist in the body and simply need to be “reprogrammed” to regenerate instead of forming scars.
The researchers say the discovery could have important short-term applications in improved wound healing and in reducing scars after amputations or serious injuries.
