Here's Today's Feel-Good Story:
To escape predators, lizards have the ability to shed their tails which will regrow in about 60 days.
Researchers at the Keck School Of Medicine at the University Of Southern California have studied cartilage regeneration and identified key cells in that process that could unlock ways to rebuild cartilage damaged by osteoarthritis which affects 10% of Americans.
“Lizards are kind of magical in their ability to regenerate cartilage because they can regenerate large amounts of cartilage and it doesn’t transition to bone,” said corresponding author Thomas Lozito, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
“The dream is to find a way to translate that process in humans because they cannot repair cartilage. This represents an important step because we need to understand the process in great detail before we can try to recreate it in mammals.”