MDI Biological Laboratory study finds immune system is critical to regeneration

(Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory) The answer to the question of why some organisms can regenerate major body parts while others, such as humans, cannot may lie with the body's innate immune system, according to a new study of heart regeneration in the Mexican salamander by James Godwin, Ph.D., of the MDI Biological Laboratory. Godwin found that formation of new heart muscle tissue after a heart attack is dependent on the presence of macrophages, a type of white blood cell.
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news