Comparative regenerative mechanisms across different mammalian tissues

Abstract

Stimulating regeneration of complex tissues and organs after injury to effect complete structural and functional repair, is an attractive therapeutic option that would revolutionize clinical medicine. Compared to many metazoan phyla that show extraordinary regenerative capacity, which in some instances persists throughout life, regeneration in mammalians, particularly humans, is limited or absent. Here we consider recent insights in the elucidation of molecular mechanisms of regeneration that have come from studies of tissue homeostasis and injury repair in mammalian tissues that span the spectrum from little or no self-renewal, to those showing active cell turnover throughout life. These studies highlight the diversity of factors that constrain regeneration, including immune responses, extracellular matrix composition, age, injury type, physiological adaptation, and angiogenic and neurogenic capacity. Despite these constraints, much progress has been made in elucidating key molecular mechanisms that may provide therapeutic targets for the development of future regenerative therapies, as well as previously unidentified developmental paradigms and windows-of-opportunity for improved regenerative repair.