From the April 2008 Scientific American Magazine | 28 comments

Regrowing Limbs: Can People Regenerate Body Parts? ( Preview )

Progress on the road to regenerating major body parts, salamander-style, could transform the treatment of amputations and major wounds

By Ken Muneoka, Manjong Han and David M. Gardiner

The Human Challenge

The idea of regenerating a human limb may still seem more like fantasy than a plausible possibility, but with insights such as those we have been describing, we can evaluate in a logical stepwise manner how it might happen. An amputated human limb results in a large and complex wound surface that transects a number of different tissues, including epidermis, dermis and interstitial connective tissue, adipose tissue, muscle, bone, nerve and vasculature. Looking at those different tissue types individually, we find that most of them are actually very capable of regenerating after a small-scale injury.

Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.

Read Comments (28) | Post a comment

You Might Also Like

Discuss This Article

Click here to submit your comment.

VIEW:



	Email:
	Name:
	Address:
	Address 2:
	City:
	State:

Subscription Center

Editor's Pick

Adapting to the Freshwater CrisisForward-thinking experts are getting a better handle on the growing global water shortage and coming up with innovative approaches to ensuring the security, safety and sustainability of this resource