Regenerative Pixie Dust!

morganbatchava's picture
Submitted by morganbatchava on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 8:59pm. ::

I saw this on PBS's BBC World News, and when I told AJ he said he didn't believe it, so I had to find the article, then he suggested I post it here, so here it is!

BBC News, Ohio The Man Who Grew Back His Finger Tip: In every town in every part of this sprawling country you can find a faceless sprawling strip mall in which to do the shopping.

Rarely though would you expect to find a medical miracle working behind the counter of the mall's hobby shop.

That however is what Lee Spievak considers himself to be.

"I put my finger in," Mr Spievak says, pointing towards the propeller of a model aeroplane, "and that's when I sliced my finger off."

It took the end right off, down to the bone, about half an inch.

"We don't know where the piece went."

The photos of his severed finger tip are pretty graphic. You can understand why doctors said he'd lost it for good.

Today though, you wouldn't know it. Mr Spievak, who is 69 years old, shows off his finger, and it's all there, tissue, nerves, nail, skin, even his finger print.

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scraping the cells from the
Haydesigner in San Diego's picture
Submitted by Haydesigner in ... on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 10:15pm.

scraping the cells from the lining of a pig's bladder.

Yeesh!

Still, the one question they did not answer, but I'm dying to know, is if the fingerprint is the same or not!! I strongly suspect the answer is no, as I am sure they would have whooped that up in the article, but just imagine if it was...


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Yes, it likely is
Ruth's picture
Submitted by Ruth on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 12:53am.

If the cellular matrix causes a regeneration, it is a DNA-mediated complete copy of his finger, all the way to the fingerprint. The question is if there is a scar or dividing line apparent for a while between old and new tissue.

This is not as miraculous as it sounds... with the exception of gametes, the oldest tissue in your body is only about 10 years old - every bit of you regenerates again and again.

We are able to regrow pieces like this in space, too, from stem cells. The trick is the micro-gravity and keeping the tissue in motion (in 0-G, the tissue does not whack against the tube and break apart). Apparently, entire new joints complete with bone, cartilage and blood vessels can be regrown, from your own cells. If we get the space station fully built, this may well be a product of our space program.

The miracles I am waiting for are the growth of a complete human heart or pancreas.

One of the first drugs I helped bring to market unexpectedly regenerates organs in people as they live off of a transplanted organ. Eventually all of the cells become resident and the drug can be discontinued.


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