'Miracle mouse' can regrow organs

[whoa182]

Amazing breakthrough that some of you may of heard about recently. If you like I'll try and provide a link to the audio feed that is being recording at the SENS conference next week where we will hear more about this.

 

'Miracle mouse'

 

SCIENTISTS have created a “miracle mouse” that can regenerate amputated limbs or badly damaged organs, making it able to recover from injuries that would kill or permanently disable normal animals.

 

The experimental animal is unique among mammals in its ability to regrow its heart, toes, joints and tail.

 

The researchers have also found that when cells from the test mouse are injected into ordinary mice, they too acquire the ability to regenerate.

 

The discoveries raise the prospect that humans could one day be given the ability to regenerate lost or damaged organs, opening up a new era in medicine.

 

Details of the research will be presented next week at a scientific conference on ageing, Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, at Cambridge University. Ellen Heber-Katz, professor of immunology at the Wistar Institute, an American biomedical research centre, says that the ability of mice at her laboratory to regenerate appears to be controlled by about a dozen genes.

 

She is still researching their exact functions, but it seems almost certain that humans have comparable genes.

 

“We have experimented with amputating or damaging several different organs, such as the heart, toes, tail and ears, and just watched them regrow,” she said. “It is quite remarkable. The only organ that did not grow back was the brain.

 

“When we injected foetal liver cells taken from those animals into ordinary mice, they too gained the power of regeneration. We found this persisted even six months after the injection.”

 

Heber-Katz made her discovery when she noticed that the identification holes that scientists punch in the ears of experimental mice healed without any signs of scarring.

 

The self-healing mice, from a strain known as MRL, were then subjected to a series of surgical procedures. In one the mice had their toes amputated — but the digits grew back, complete with joints.

 

In another test some of the tail was cut off but also regenerated. Then the researchers used a cryoprobe to freeze parts of the animals’ hearts, only to see these grow back again. A similar phenomenon was observed when the optic nerve was severed and the liver partially destroyed.

 

Heber-Katz will describe some of her findings at the Cambridge conference and plans to publish her results in a research paper. “We have found that the MRL mouse seems to have a higher rate of cell division,” she said. “Its cells live and die faster and get replaced faster. That seems to be linked to the ability to regenerate.”

 

The researchers suspect that the same genes could confer greater longevity and are measuring the animals’ survival rate. The mice are, however, only 18 months old and the normal lifespan is two years so it is too early to reach conclusions.

 

Scientists have long known that less complex creatures have an impressive ability to regenerate. Many fish and amphibians can regrow internal organs or even whole limbs.

 

Humans can regenerate their liver provided at least a quarter remains intact, as well as their blood and outer skin, but no other organs regrow.

 

This is probably because, although most mammalian cells start off with the potential to develop into any cell type, they soon become very specialised. This allows mammals to develop more complex brains and bodies but deprives them of the power of regeneration.

 

By contrast, if a newt loses a limb then cells around the injury revert back into so-called stem cells. These can develop into whatever types of cell are needed, including bone, skin or nerves.

 

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1754008,00.html

[GAHD]

When will that woman produce results? They made the discovery in 1993, and after 12 years they still havn't cracked that part of the code? come on.

[alxian]

The researchers have also found that when cells from the test mouse are injected into ordinary mice, they too acquire the ability to regenerate.

 

 

no that i needed justification but i'm glad i've put up with the last five years of my life.

 

no matter how bad it gets science is always a silver lining to a gloomy existance.

 

atm all i'm interested in is a new pair of eyes, tetrachromatic if possible.. that is to say have they figured out if these parts that grow back are foetal female? not that seeing the world through females eyes wouldn't be revelatory.. lol.

[whoa182]

When will that woman produce results? They made the discovery in 1993, and after 12 years they still havn't cracked that part of the code? come on.

 

http://www.wistar.upenn.edu/Publications/Search_Pub.cfm

 

I don't see that she published any such discovery in 1993. Also this is a new discovery as far as I am aware. She is publishing her work soon and will be at the SENS conference in cambridge to present her research on these mice.

 

Got any links to show that she done this in 1993?

[whoa182]

Alright I may have found the work you are refering to and it was back in 1998.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/56799.stm

 

 

" She was using specially bred mice which lacked a component of their immune system. "

 

I believe in the latest research they know a lot more about whats going on now and are able to inject the cells into mice that are already alive, not just breed mice with the capability.

 

"In the future Professor Herber-Katz hopes to find out how stimulate regeneration without causing tumour growth."

 

Well it seems as if she has now done that...

 

This sounds like updated work and research that has come along way since 1998 or whenever she first started on this.

[alxian]

tumour growth

 

when did that fine print show up???

 

in the article in wired i'd read a while back.

 

still a little cancer is manageable if you can cut it out (since you'll be expecting it) and regrow the surrounding tissue. i imagine that the cancer growth was ssomething genetic and not universal?

[Dark Mind]

Last question, clarification, please... :).

 

What does "Universal" mean in that sense :eek2:...

[whoa182]

when did that fine print show up???

 

in the article in wired i'd read a while back.

 

still a little cancer is manageable if you can cut it out (since you'll be expecting it) and regrow the surrounding tissue. i imagine that the cancer growth was ssomething genetic and not universal?

 

Cancer isn't a problem for the mice injected with these nows now. Originally she discovered that MRL mice had these regenerative abilities when she punched holes in their ears to tag them, this discovery was made back a few years ago by accident. This then got her interested and she then decided to research the phenomenon and then found a way to get any mice to be able to regenerate organs. This latest breakthrough is a initially from her discovery on the MRL mice. Now the mice injected with them cells can regenerate organs and limbs and they do not get tumor growth!

 

I'm suprised this isnt a big topic on * science forums * this could be one of the biggest breakthroughs of the decade! or better!