On June 27, the international journal "Science" published a milestone achievement in the field of regenerative medicine by Chinese scientists.
The team led by Wang Wei from the Beijing Institute of Life Sciences and the Tsinghua University Institute for Biomedical Interdisciplinary Research has, for the first time internationally, discovered a key "molecular switch" that regulates the regenerative capacity of mammals - the metabolic product of vitamin A, retinoic acid, and has successfully achieved complete regeneration of mammalian organs for the first time. This marks a major original innovation breakthrough in China's regenerative medicine field.
Wang Wei (center) and two first authors of the paper from his laboratory
Why can't the organs of mammals like humans self-repair after damage?
This is one of the major scientific challenges in the field of regenerative medicine. Compared to lower animals such as salamanders, most tissues and organs of mammals have extremely limited regenerative abilities, especially the complete regeneration of organs such as the heart and central nervous system has not been achieved so far, and the genetic mechanisms behind the failure of mammalian organ regeneration have remained unclear.
The research team chose the unique organ of mammals, the earlobe, as a breakthrough point. The earlobe evolved about 160 million years ago, consisting of complex tissues such as skin, cartilage, and peripheral nerves. There are significant differences in the regenerative ability of the earlobe among different mammals: rabbits, African spiny mice, etc., will form a bud after earlobe damage, thus achieving complete repair; mice, rats, etc., will also form tissue similar to buds in the early stage of injury, but cannot achieve effective regeneration. "This specific difference in cellular behavior provides important clues for studying the molecular mechanism of regenerative ability," said Wang Wei.
Expressing the key synthetic enzyme Aldh1a2 for retinoic acid in mice can completely restore the regenerative ability of the earlobe
The Wang Wei team conducted a systematic comparative study on the process of earlobe injury repair in rabbits and mice, using technologies such as spatial transcriptome sequencing and cell lineage tracking to accurately analyze the differences in cell types and gene expression during the repair process.
The study found that retinoic acid is the key "molecular switch" that determines the regenerative capacity of mammals. Insufficient production of retinoic acid leads to failed regeneration, while exogenous supplementation of retinoic acid can activate regeneration.
Wang Wei:
"Retinoic acid can regulate gene expression, cell differentiation, and microenvironmental signals, becoming the core hub connecting genetic regulation with regenerative capacity."
Professor Peng Jinrong, Dean of the College of Animal Science at Zhejiang University, commented: "This study provides new ideas for exploring the key factors behind the failure of regeneration in mammalian hearts, central nervous systems, and other organs, and has milestone significance for understanding the regulation of regenerative capacity during the evolution and emergence of species."
Source: Beijing Account
Author: Capital Education
Editor: U022
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7521653308831007272/
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