![]() The BioDome is important because it provides a localized, controlled environment for the drugs to do their job. In the case of this experiment, the trigger is the combination of the BioDome and the drug cocktail. “What we need to be doing is trying to discover what triggers will convince the cells to do whatever it is that we want them to do.” “Cells already know how to make all the organs in your body - they did it once during embryonic development and that information hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s still there,” he said. He compares it to focusing on software rather than creating hardware. ![]() Levin subscribes to a different school of thought which approaches regenerative medicine by taking advantage of the capabilities of cells and rousing them into action. Other approaches in regenerative medicine focus more on tissue engineering and the actual construction of new body parts. Levin’s lab researches how cells make decisions and how to use this process to kick-start regeneration. The frogs could use them to stand and to swim. The new limbs contained bones, muscle and nerves. This brief treatment activated an 18-month period of regrowth, resulting in almost fully functional legs. The BioDiome was used within the first 24 hours of amputation - and in the case of one group of frogs, was loaded with the five pro-regenerative compounds. As tadpoles, these types of frogs can regenerate legs but lose the ability to do so when they are adults. In the experiment, 115 female African clawed frogs were assigned to one of three treatment conditions after having a hind leg amputated: the BioDome with the cocktail treatment, just the BioDome, or a control experience of no intervention. “This makes me very happy because if this is our first guess and it’s this good, imagine what the optimized version is going to look like in the future,” Levin said. The BioDome, a silicone wearable bioreactor, was used to apply the five-drug cocktail, which triggered the growth of a lost leg. This cocktail was also the first the team tried - the initial stab at getting the right combination of ingredients and doses. ![]() The cocktail was developed by Levin and the study’s first author Nirosha Murugan, now an assistant professor at Algoma University in Ontario, and designed to contain ingredients that spurred different actions, including the inhibiting of collagen production, which causes scarring, the encouragement of nerve fiber, blood vessel and muscle growth, and the tamping down of inflammation. The regrowth was facilitated by a combination of a five-drug cocktail and a silicone wearable bioreactor called a BioDome. “They weren’t perfect cosmetically, but they were pretty darn good legs,” he said. In a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, Levin and his colleagues announced they were able to trigger the regrowth of legs in adult frogs. While technologies like prosthetics have advanced, doctors are still unable to induce human limb regeneration.īut scientists are a step closer. Scientists project that by 2050, approximately 3.6 million Americans will live with the loss of a limb. ![]()
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