A new research at the NYU Langone Medical Center has given new hope to amputees who may be able to regenerate their lost limbs in the future. The study sheds light on the mammals' rare ability to regenerate.
Mammals possess rare regenerative abilities, which help regain a lost fingertip including nails, nerves and even bone. Although it is common knowledge that nails grow, but very little is known about how the process takes place. The researchers at the NYU Langone Medical Center may have a breakthrough in finding the key element which not only answers the long-unknown fact but also help in limb regeneration.
Over 1.7 million people in the United States live with amputations. Researchers used genetically engineered mice to understand the biochemical chain of events that takes place after a fingertip is cut-off, according to the NYU news release.
Mayumi Ito, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology in the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU School of Medicine and the lead author in the study, and team have found an essential clue in the process, which holds the answer to the regeneration of the fingertip. Researchers found a family of self-renewing stem-cells in the nail matrix, formative layer of cells at the base of the fingernail, which stimulates the nail growth. They also found that these stem cells entirely depend on a family of proteins called "Wnt signaling network," which also helps in the regeneration of hair and tissues in the body, to regenerate the fingertip including the bone.
Dr. Ito confirmed the function of these proteins by blocking the Wnt-signaling network in mice with amputated fingertips. She found that the growth of nail or the bone did not take place as normal. Researchers then used the Wnt pathway to regenerate bone and tissue in other parts. Dr. Ito hopes that these findings makes way for the development of new therapies that can help millions in limb regeneration.
The findings are published in the journal Nature.
