Elucidating the molecular circuitry that regulates regenerative responses in mammals has recently attracted considerable attention because of its emerging impact on modern bioengineering, tissue replacement technologies, and organ transplantation. The liver is one of the few organs of the adult body that exhibitsa prominent regenerative capacity in response to toxic injury, viral infection, or ...

Bone regeneration is a process that involves several molecular mediators, such as growth factors, which directly affect the proliferation, migration and differentiation of bone-related cells. The osteogenic growth peptide (OGP) and its C-terminal pentapeptide OGP(10-14) have been shown to stimulate the proliferation, differentiation, alkaline phosphatase activity and matrix mineralization of os...

Biophysical signaling is required for both embryonic polarity and regenerative outgrowth. Exploiting endogenous ion transport for regenerative therapies will require direct regulation of membrane voltage. Here, we develop a pharmacological method to target ion transporters, uncovering a role for membrane voltage as a key regulator of anterior polarity in regenerating planaria. Utilizing the hig...

KillerRed (KR) is a recently discovered fluorescent protein that, when activated with green light, releases reactive oxygen species (ROS) into the cytoplasm, triggering apoptosis in a KR-expressing cell. This property allows for the use of KR as a means of killing cells in an organism with great temporal and spatial specificity, while minimizing the nonspecific effects that can result from mech...

The majority of hearing loss is caused by the permanent loss of inner ear hair cells. The identification of drugs that modulate the susceptibility to hair cell loss or spur their regeneration is often hampered by the difficulties of assaying for such complex phenomena in mammalian models. The zebrafish has emerged as a powerful animal model for chemical screening in many contexts. Several chara...

Peripheral nerve regeneration can be enhanced by chemical and mechanical cues for neurite growth. Aligned and randomly oriented electrospun nanofibers of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) or a blend of PCL and elastin were fabricated to test their potential to provide contact guidance to embryonic chick dorsal root ganglia for peripheral nerve regeneration. Scanning electron microscopy was used to ana...

The ejection of internal organs, i.e., evisceration, is a well-known phenomenon in sea-cucumbers. We report the ability of a member of the Chordate phyla, the tropical ascidian Polycarpa mytiligera, to eviscerate and regenerate its gut within 12 days, and to rebuild its branchial sac within 19 days. Evisceration occurred within 4-43 seconds of gentle mechanical pressure exerted on the tunic in ...

In contrast to mammals, zebrafish regenerate heart injuries via proliferation of cardiomyocytes located near the wound border. To identify regulators of cardiomyocyte proliferation, we used spatially resolved RNA sequencing (tomo-seq) and generated a high-resolution genome-wide atlas of gene expression in the regenerating zebrafish heart. Interestingly, we identified two wound border zones with...

BACKGROUND Recent advances in developing biocompatible materials for treating bone loss or defects have dramatically changed clinicians' reconstructive armory. Current clinically available reconstructive options have certain advantages, but also several drawbacks that prevent them from gaining universal acceptance. A wide range of synthetic and natural biomaterials is being used to develop tiss...

Received: 21/Dec/2008, Accepted: 22/Apr/2009 Regeneration of large bone defects is considered a challenging task by facio-mandibular and orthopedic surgeons. In these circumstances, either bone grafts or metal implants are currently being used. The inherent limitations associated with these methods have directed the attention of investigators to new technologies such as bone tissue engineering,...