Neurological Regeneration Debate
Neurological Regeneration
Biological regeneration has been studied over the years, in salamanders, and biological imitations of life. Through research on the mitotic capabilities of certain animals, to the DNA and hormones that make regeneration possible, scientists are slowly finding a way so that humans can regenerate lost or missing limbs, or grow organs used to save millions of lives in the future.
Because being able to reproduce a limb or body part is dependent on nerves, scientists have found it vital to perform especial experimental procedures to find a way to prevent difficult regenerated nerves from inhibiting the regeneration process. The medicinal leech, a worm-like creature once used by doctors to bleed patients, now is being used to draw clues on how a common protein may help promote neural regeneration. A specific enzyme or protein, called nitric oxide synthase, or NOS, is activated when parts of the nerve cell are damaged in the medicinal leech. This particular Hirudinean leech is a three-inch-long invertebrate known for its ability to regenerate its neural connections. Scientists hope that one day their findings may be applied to research in human spinal regeneration. Purdue's studies show that NOS in the leech is activated at the site of injury within minutes after axons or nerves are severed. Axons are the long "arms" of a nerve cell that carry impulses away from the cell body toward a target cell. NOS remains active well beyond 48 hours after the injury to start neural reconstruction. Conducting follow-up studies to identify what information this molecule provides at a cellular level, they see how these functions might help the leech's nervous system set itself up to allow regeneration to occur. This same enzyme NOS, also found in humans, produces a "signaling" molecule that sends chemical messages throughout the body to incite certain chemical reactions. The enzyme found in leeches is very much like the human NOS, and it may serve a similar function in both species. However, the drawback is that nerve regeneration in higher systems is not complete as it is in medicinal leeches and such less complex creatures. By analyzing how nerves regenerate in a simple system, scientists may begin to find clues to facilitate regeneration in vertebrates.
After the problems of regeneration and axonal regrowth are solved for humans, the next issue scientists are interested in, is the creation of man-made tissues or organs, known as neo-organs. There are...