”One out of every 200 Americans is an amputee”
A breakthrough in medical technology could see limb regeneration by utilizing high levels of oxygen on severed bone.
Truth be told, there is a countless list of amazing feats that occur in nature we, as a species, have yet to truly comprehend. For centuries humans have long been trying to replicate some of the more amazing accomplishments Mother Nature rightfully boasts over us.
One of the more amazing achievements that occur in nature has to do with the nimble gecko and the elegant sea star, which can partially regenerate their tails and limbs respectively. Of course, salamanders go one better and are able to regenerate whole limbs. Even humans, to some degree, are able to regenerate damaged livers (partially) or even the tips of our fingers. Now, according to Science Daily, a new study conducted by the Tulane University shows it might actually be possible to promote limb regrowth to levels akin to salamanders by utilizing the very air we breathe.
The Department of Defense-funded study shows that when severed bone is exposed to high levels of oxygen the bone will undergo regrowth. Leading the study is Tulane University’s Mimi Sammarco who found that any bone growth in humans must be triggered in order to activate the type of genes that can stimulate the kind of regenerative growth seen in salamanders.
“What it boils down to is genes (that spur regeneration) don’t just turn themselves on. They turn on because something signals them. So I thought, maybe it’s oxygen that’s turning them on,” Sammarco said in a release for the study. “Oxygen is often the primary signal that turns on various genes.”
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