|
Language:
English
Español
Français
Deutscher
|
|
Regeneration
|
|
Imagine that if a limb was cut off, it would grow back spontaneously! Well, animals with simpler nervous systems than ours have that amazing quality.
|
|
Salamanders: Salamanders can regenerate legs. When a salamander is in the larval stage, it can regenerate a limb in thirty to forty days! Adult salamanders can also regenerate limbs, but it takes much longer and the leg is not as large as the original one.
|
|
Lizards: Lizards have the ability to replace lost limbs or a lost tail. This is important because when a predator such as a hawk captures the tail, the lizard can escape. The new tail lacks the backbone of the original tail.
|
|
Frogs: A younger frog can regenerate limbs to a better extent than an adult frog. For example, the tadpole can regenerate its hind limbs.
|
|
Planaria: This flatworm can be cut into as many as thirty-two pieces and it can rebuild itself into thirty-two complete flatworms.
|
|
Crayfish: Cray fish can regrow claws, pincers, or legs. It is easy to recognize the regenerated part because it is smaller than the other parts. Just like the lizard, it can break off a claw or leg so that it can excape when captured by a predator.
|
|
Earthworm: When the worm is cut into two pieces, the head grows a new tail. Interestingly, the tail grows another tail if the portion cut off is larger than 15-20 segments. With two tails, this portion dies.
|
|
Legends: According to Greek legend, one of the labors of Hercules was the destruction of the Hydra, a gigantic monster with nine serpents' heads. Finding that as soon as one head was cut off two new ones grew in its place!
|
|
Humans?
|
|
Imagine that if a limb was cut off, it would grow back spontaneously! Well, animals with simpler nervous systems than ours have that amazing quality.
|
|
According to Dr. Cynthia Illingworth, children up to the age of eleven can regenerate fingertips! According to the doctor, "One day, owing to a misunderstanding, a child with a guillotine amputation of a fingertip, whom the Senior House Officer had intended to refer to a plastic surgeon, had the finger covered with a simple dressing, and in error was not seen again for several days. The finger was healing beautifully and there was eventually complete regrowth of the tip. We now know that this happens in young children." The length, contour, and function of the finger is completely restored!
|
|
According to Dr. Anthony L. Mescher of Indiana University School of Medicine, salamanders with withered or paralyzed limbs do not regenerate. Also, the wound must close with an epithelium (a layer of cells programmed to grow outward), not with surgery. Lastly, nerve cells must be present.
|
|
|
With the information we know today, we are far from regenerating damaged body parts.
|
Home
Glossary
Messages
Interact
About Us
Resources
Links
