Mammalian myocardial infarction is typically followed by scar formation with eventual ventricular dilation and heart failure. Here we present a novel model system in which mice constitutively expressing cyclin A2 in the myocardium elicit a regenerative response after infarction and exhibit significantly limited ventricular dilation with sustained and remarkably enhanced cardiac function. New ca...

The integrated concept ADRES shall point out the future of energy supply using intelligent, regenerative and efficient energy systems (Autonomous Decentralized Regenerative Energy Systems – ADRES). Via combination of regenerative energy sources, intelligent grid management and highest efficiency in the entire energy chain, especially in innovative end use appliances, a regional low emission ful...

More people die every year from ischemic heart disease than any other disease. Because the human heart lacks sufficient ability to replenish the damaged cardiac muscles, extensive research has been devoted toward understanding the homeostatic and regenerative potential of the heart and to develop regenerative therapies for heart disease. Here, we discuss recent advances in the understanding of ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW To briefly show which are the mechanisms and cell types involved in kidney regeneration and describe some of the therapies currently under study in regenerative medicine for kidney transplantation. RECENT FINDINGS The kidney contains cell progenitors that under specific circumstances have the ability to regenerate specific structures. Apart from the knowledge gained in the s...

In order to compare the regenerative ability of skeletal muscle between young (5month) and old (26 month) rats, sliced or intact extensor digitorum longus muscles were freely autografted into young and old rats and also reciprocally grafted from young to old inbred animals and vice versa . Sixty days after grafting, the transplants were analyzed for contractile and histochemical properties . Th...

Regeneration processes employ a series of differentiative events related to various embryonic morphogenetic phenomena in which the cytoskeleton plays a fundamental role. Planarians are an excellent model to study development mechanism because they show an exceptional physiological morphogenetic plasticity that is also at the basis of their extraordinary regenerative ability. In this paper we di...

During the last decade, stem cells emerged as a powerful instrument for regenerative medicine. Stem cells have the essential ability to renewal and differentiate into other cell lineages. Besides the polemic about the use of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells represent a valid alternative avoiding ethical concerns. Different from others adult stem cells, which involved invasive procedures t...

Trauma in the adult mammalian central nervous system leads to irreversible structural and functional impairment due to failed regeneration attempts. In contrast, neurons in the peripheral nervous system exhibit a greater regenerative ability. It has been proposed that an orchestrated sequence of transcriptional events controlling the expression of specific sets of genes may be the underlying ba...

A direct histological assay of axonal regeneration would have many advantages over currently available behavioral, electrophysiological, and radiometric assays. We show that peripheral sensory axons marked with the yellow fluorescent protein in transgenic mice can be viewed transcutaneously in superficial nerves. Degenerating and regenerating axons can be followed in live animals with a dissect...

The heart has a limited ability to regenerate. It is important to identify therapeutic strategies that enhance cardiac regeneration in order to replace cardiomyocytes lost during the progression of heart failure. Cardiac progenitor cells are interesting targets for new regenerative therapies because they are self-renewing, multipotent cells located in the heart. Cardiac side population cells (c...