Rx for tissue restoration: Regenerative biology and medicine

Stem cells in regenerative biology and medicine

“…Ideally, we would like to be able to stimulate regeneration in vivo from resident cells. A number of attempts have been made to bridge lesions with natural or synthetic biomaterial scaffolds that promote the migration, proliferation, and differentiation of resident stem cells or the regeneration of axons 136–138 . Tissues induced to regenerate by such scaffolds are bone, dermis, large blood vessels, dura mater, tendon, peripheral nerve, esophagus, urinary bladder, and spinal cord axons.…”

“…There are a considerable number of such cells, including, but not restricted to, conventional stem cells. Thus, mature hepatocytes and endothelial cells maintain all or part of their functions while proliferating to regenerate liver and capillaries, a process known as compensatory hyperplasia 138 . The MRL mouse is uniquely able to regenerate cardiac muscle naturally 142 .…”

“…Clonal populations of the latter cells were induced to differentiate into cells with the molecular markers of chondrogenic, osteogenic, adipogenic, or myogenic cells. Thus, we need to think of regeneration in terms of the functional responses to injury of cells in a variety of states of differentiation rather than in terms of a single cellular entity (differentiated state) set aside for regeneration 3,138 …”

“…Going even further, an interesting regeneration of axons. [136][137][138] Tissues induced to regenerquestion might be whether, after restoring normal neuate by such scaffolds are bone, dermis, large blood vesronal pattern and function to the brains of Alzheimer's sels, dura mater, tendon, peripheral nerve, esophagus, patients, they would require ''psychological regeneraurinary bladder, and spinal cord axons. In no case, howtion,'' because lost memories presumably would not be ever, has regeneration resulted in completely normal tisrestored by the regeneration of new tissue.…”