User:OlavN/Regeneration therapy

Regeneration therapy is a therapy for stimulating the regrowth of an amputated or destroyed body part. It goes beyond wound healing (which implies that normal skin grows over the wound site) by requiring reconstruction of a missing structure, such as a limb.

Instead of waiting for natural regeneration, which for adult humans is very limited, regeneration therapy seeks to endow humans (and other animals of interest to humans) with the regeneration capabilities of lower animals like salamanders. A more moderate aim can be expressed as giving adults the regeneration capabilities of young children.

The term regeneration therapy is often (seen in e.g. a Google search) used about tissue regeneration which doesn't involve regrowth of a body part - such as regenerating the beta cells in Langerhans islets for curing diabetes. This interpretation, not in accordance with regeneration in biology, is not the subject of this article.

The therapy
The first prerequisite for regenerative growth is: The wound should be open - not covered with skin or fibrous tissues, as this would prevent regenerative growth. Debridement implies removing surgically any such covering.

The second prerequisite is the availability of a blastema containing undifferentiated cells from which the body part can grow.

There are alternative methods for stimulating regrowth:

Stem cell therapy
Stem cell therapy implies injecting artificially cultivated stem cells in the blastema. As regrowth entails body part enlargement, an artificial matrix is often needing for tissue scaffolding.

Electrochemical stimulation methods
There are at least two methods for stimulating regeneration: Tissue scaffolding is not required with these methods.
 * Apply a sustained electrical current (1 nanoAmpere), from a distally placed electrode. This was discovered by Elmer J. Lund in the early 1920s.
 * Make silver ions available at the wound. This may be combined with electricity, so that the silver is brought in by means of iontophoresis. This was discovered by Robert O. Becker.