Alternate Method Of Cell Regeneration Discovered By Hebrew University

Alternate Method Of Cell Regeneration Discovered By Hebrew University

Hadassah Researchers Hold Out Promise For Tissue Growth In Aged

Jerusalem, April 27, 2010 - A possible key to reversing the widespread effects of tissue degeneration due to age has been revealed in experiments by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Medicine and Hadassah University Hospital Ein Kerem.

The results of their research appear online in the journal Genes and Development. The research team consisted of IMRIC Professors Yehudit Bergman and Dr. Eli Pikarsky and Dr. Zvi Grannot and Efi Weitman of the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine and Dr. Yuval Gielchinsky, Prof. Neri Laufer and Dr. Rinat Abramovich of Hadassah University Hospital.

In experiments with pregnant and aged mice, the researchers were able to demonstrate that by reproducing some of the biological effects of pregnancy in aged mice, liver generation and function can be enhanced in those mice by redirection to an alternative mechanism of cell regeneration.

This observation has potential great implications for other living beings, the researchers believe, not only as applied to liver regeneration but for other applications in which tissue replacement is needed.

The process of organ regeneration has fascinated mankind for ages. The novel mechanism of regeneration described by the Hebrew University-Hadassah researchers is based on liver cell growth rather than proliferation – that is, an increase in the volume of existing cells rather than the production of additional cells. This discovery is of specific value with regard to aged organisms, as this means of regeneration is unaffected by age, when cell proliferation naturally decreases.

After determining how pregnancy chemically induces this switch in cell regeneration (from proliferation to cell expansion), the research team was able to recapitulate the same effect in aged mice using a small molecule drug. This drug dramatically improved survival in such mice following partial liver surgery.

It is possible, say the researchers, that similar means could be employed to enhance the ability of the liver to regenerate in aged humans. Such advances could have considerable impact on people who are eligible for and/or in need of liver surgery, yet are at significant risk of surgical complications.