Scientists Regrow Amputated Toes in Mice. Could the Same Process Work in Humans?
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Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Flipboard Bluesky Email Copy Link Home → Health Two growth factors pushed scar-prone wounds toward imperfect but surprising regeneration.
Why can a salamander rebuild a lost limb, while mammals usually seal their wounds with scar tissue? In mice, scientists have now nudged that same emergency repair program onto a different path. By applying two growth signals in sequence, researchers at Texas A&M University prompted amputated neonatal mouse digits to form new bone, joint-like structures, tendon and ligament tissue.
The rebuild is imperfect, but at least it challenges the old idea that mammals simply cannot regenerate lost parts. When a mammal’s tissue is cut or crushed, the body summons fibroblasts, cells that help close the wound and lay down scar tissue. That response can save an animal from infection.
It also blocks the more ambitious process seen in salamanders, which build a mound of repair cells called a blastema. “Why some animals can regenerate and others, particularly humans, can’t is a big question that has been asked since Aristotle,” Dr. Ken Muneoka of Texas A&M, said in a statement.
“I’ve spent my career trying to understand that.” His team amputated mouse digits at a level that normally heals by scarring. After the wound closed, the researchers applied fibroblast growth factor 2, or FGF2. The signal did not grow a toe by itself.
But it pushed wound cells to gather into a blastema-like structure and switch on genes associated with regeneration. “It’s as if these cells can move in two different directions,” Muneoka added. “They could either make a scar or make a blastema.
Our research focused on redirecting the behavior of fibroblasts already present at the injury site.” Four days later, the team added bone morphogenetic protein 2, or BMP2. That second signal told the cells to begin building.
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