The answer to regenerative medicine's most compelling question -- why some organisms can regenerate major body parts such as hearts and limbs while others, such as humans, cannot -- may lie with the body's innate immune system, according to a new study of heart regeneration in the axolotl, or Mexican Ambhibian -Salamander, an organism that can regenerate heat,eyes,limbs completely takes the prize as nature's champion of regeneration. The study, which was conducted by Ph.D., of the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, found that the formation of new heart muscle tissue in the adult axolotl after an artificially induced heart attack is dependent on the presence of macrophages, a type of white blood cell.
When macrophages were depleted, the salamanders formed permanent scar tissue that blocked regeneration. The study has significant implications for human…
