The Ed.
Well-Known Member
If you're a nail professional, you won't need reminding how important the nail matrix is but I'd be surprised if you ever thought it would contain the secret to limb regeneration in humans.
You may or may not know (I didn't know) that humans have the remarkable ability to regenerate amputated fingertips. Until now, no one has truly understood how this happens. "Everyone knows that fingernails keep growing but no one really knows why," explains study senior author Dr Mayumi Ito from New York University's School of Medicine.
Dr. Ito and team have been learning more about the regenerative process using genetically engineered mice to establish the biological chain of events following the amputation of a fingertip. In this they are blazing the trail and hoping to move towards the reality of the regeneration of whole limbs by understanding how fingertips can grow back.
And, as it turns out, the nail matrix may hold the key. The team have discovered a population of self-renewing stem cells that depend upon a family of proteins known as the "Wnt signalling network." These are the same proteins that play a crucial role in hair and tissue regeneration.
"When we blocked the Wnt-signalling pathway in mice with amputated fingertips, the nail and bone did not grow back as they normally would," says Ito. If humans lose more than the fingertip, it typically does not regenerate but by manipulating the Wnt-signalling pathway, they are working towards stimulating growth beyond the fingertip meaning that the matrix could lead the way to regenerating whole limbs in the future.
Until then...geek on!
The Ed.
You may or may not know (I didn't know) that humans have the remarkable ability to regenerate amputated fingertips. Until now, no one has truly understood how this happens. "Everyone knows that fingernails keep growing but no one really knows why," explains study senior author Dr Mayumi Ito from New York University's School of Medicine.
Dr. Ito and team have been learning more about the regenerative process using genetically engineered mice to establish the biological chain of events following the amputation of a fingertip. In this they are blazing the trail and hoping to move towards the reality of the regeneration of whole limbs by understanding how fingertips can grow back.
And, as it turns out, the nail matrix may hold the key. The team have discovered a population of self-renewing stem cells that depend upon a family of proteins known as the "Wnt signalling network." These are the same proteins that play a crucial role in hair and tissue regeneration.
"When we blocked the Wnt-signalling pathway in mice with amputated fingertips, the nail and bone did not grow back as they normally would," says Ito. If humans lose more than the fingertip, it typically does not regenerate but by manipulating the Wnt-signalling pathway, they are working towards stimulating growth beyond the fingertip meaning that the matrix could lead the way to regenerating whole limbs in the future.
Until then...geek on!
The Ed.
