dedifferentiation tagged posts

Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)

A York team has adapted the astonishing capacity of animals such as newts to regenerate lost tissues and organs caused when they have a limb severed. Dr Paul Genever’s team developed a technique to rejuvenate cells from older people with osteoarthritis to repair worn or damaged cartilage thus reducing pain.

There is currently no treatment to prevent the progression of osteoarthritis, and people with severe disease often need total joint replacement surgery. A patient’s own bone marrow stem cells are can generate joint tissue the body will not reject when re-implanted. But, as people grow older the number of stem cells decreases and those that remain are less able to grow and repair tissue.

Cells in newts can change in response to injury ie dedif...