thebigpeatowski
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- Jan 24, 2014
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Unexpected Regeneration in Middle-Aged Mice....there's HOPE!!!
Unexpected Regeneration in Middle-Aged Mice
It seems counterintuitive that aging should enhance regenerative ability. Yet our data clearly point in this direction. There is a classic case in humans, where children that fall off bicycles often end up with large, stretched, scars under their chins, whereas adults with similar accidents have far less obvious sequelae.21Ashcroft and co-workers had shown, in fact, that older adults heal excisional wounds induced in their upper inner arm with a far higher-quality process, resulting in more nearly normal dermal architecture, than do children. In particular, they found a “regenerative pattern” of elastin and fibrillin arcades at the dermo–epidermal junction in wounds of aged subjects.22 This finding has now been corroborated by Ferguson's large human study.23 Thus, counterintuitive as it may be, our data clearly suggest that at least some forms of regeneration seem to get better with age. We are presently analyzing the differences between young and older mice in attempts to discern the critical differences.
Unexpected Regeneration in Middle-Aged Mice
It seems counterintuitive that aging should enhance regenerative ability. Yet our data clearly point in this direction. There is a classic case in humans, where children that fall off bicycles often end up with large, stretched, scars under their chins, whereas adults with similar accidents have far less obvious sequelae.21Ashcroft and co-workers had shown, in fact, that older adults heal excisional wounds induced in their upper inner arm with a far higher-quality process, resulting in more nearly normal dermal architecture, than do children. In particular, they found a “regenerative pattern” of elastin and fibrillin arcades at the dermo–epidermal junction in wounds of aged subjects.22 This finding has now been corroborated by Ferguson's large human study.23 Thus, counterintuitive as it may be, our data clearly suggest that at least some forms of regeneration seem to get better with age. We are presently analyzing the differences between young and older mice in attempts to discern the critical differences.
