I think many of our readers have watched the recent film based on the comic "Deadpool". In one of his scenes, the protagonist cuts off his hand to free himself from the handcuffs, and then within a couple of days grows a completely new limb for himself. In reality, people do not have such a superpower, but it would be nice to have it in their arsenal. This is what the American scientist of Russian origin Mikhail Levin, who works at Tufts University, is striving for. The researcher has achieved surprising results in his experiments, for example, by forcing frogs to grow new limbs for themselves. And he is by no means going to stop there.
Previously, science believed that how the body of an organism should look like was prompted exclusively by genes. But Mikhail Levin believes that electrical signals that cells exchange among themselves also play an important role in this process of "cartography". As mentioned just above, the scientist, using bioelectrics, taught the frog's body to grow new limbs for itself. Among other things, using the same technology, Mikhail managed to move the eyes of the tadpoles from the head to their belly. The researcher himself does not exclude that in the future his experiments may lead to the emergence of the possibility of growing new limbs in humans. There is no doubt that the military of any country in the world will pay any money for such technology.
Mikhail became interested in bioelectricity in 2000. Even then, the scientist asked the question: how does the body of a person or animal understand which side inside it the heart, kidneys, lungs and other vital organs should be located. During his research, Mikhail drew attention to the fact that in the process of forming embryos of chickens, electrical impulses pass between the cells of the embryos. It was at that moment that it dawned on him: in this way the cells tell each other in which direction they need to grow. The scientist devoted the following years to experiments based on his discovery. Through trial and error, six-legged frogs, two-headed worms with an increased ability to regenerate, and other amazing creatures were born.
Mikhail Levin's technique involves the use of special proteins located on the cell surface - ion channels that determine the cellular charge. By changing this charge, you can achieve cell growth where it is needed. Growing, for example, a new tail in an experimental organism required only one hour of direct work by the researcher, plus eight days to complete the entire process. But to grow a fully functional limb, you had to work for more than a day, and then wait about six months until it fully grows.
Immediately after the reptiles, Mikhail plans to move on to experiments with warm-blooded animals, but already now the scientist is preparing to face numerous difficulties. After all, blood pressure in warm-blooded creatures is much higher, which is associated with the numerous risks of bleeding. Plus, there is a high risk of introducing infection into the body while growing a new limb. The third problem is related to the fact that for the bioelectric technology to work properly, the wound must be moist, but at the same time protected from air exposure. But for these purposes, scientists have developed a unique material of silicone, rubber and silk, which has been successfully tested on reptiles.
Mikhail Levin claims that a person will learn to grow new limbs for himself during his lifetime. This process will be quite slow and difficult, but in about 10 years you can grow yourself a completely new healthy limb without resorting to transplantation or prosthetics. Well, let's look forward to this breakthrough in science and closely follow the further experiments of the talented scientist from the United States.
SERGEY GRAY
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