Regrowing Ourselves: Possibilities of Regenerative Medicine

Berkeley Scientific: the journal of young scientists

article

Jessica Jen

关键词: Regenerative Medicine;    Tissue Engineering;    Regeneration;    Extracellular Matrix;    Healing;    Scaffold;   

DOI  :  10.5070/BS3241046907

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: University of California, Berkeley

【 摘 要 】

The myth of Prometheus is most famously identified bylong-term suffering involving an eagle and Prometheus’liver—a liver that merits its own story for its ability to regenerate.This remarkable organ is one of the earliest and most prominentillustrations of regenerative capabilities, although it is highly unlikely that the creators of the myth actually understood the biological reality of hepatic regrowth at the time. In the ancientGreek myth, Prometheus was doomed to eternal punishment after stealing fire from the gods to give to humans. He was chainedto a rock where an eagle consumed his liver daily, which thenregrew during the night for the next day’s meal. While overnightorgan regrowth in humans is still quite a stretch by current standards—Prometheus’ immortality may have represented an accelerated timeline—the concepts behind Prometheus’ exceptionalliver remain intriguing. Yet, since regrowth is a much slower process in us mortal organisms, we have found other ways to compensate for our less spectacular regenerative capabilities.Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering are promisingapplications of cell repair and regrowth. While the specifics of celland tissue repair differ between species and biological context,understanding the mechanisms behind these processes providesopportunities to manipulate cell repair and regeneration in avariety of manners.

【 授权许可】

Unknown