Researchers have been trying to find a way to mimic the regenerative abilities that fish, lizards, mice and few other creatures have. It came to the point that it even inspired one of Marvel superheroes' villains, Genetic Biologist Curt Connors, who mutated into The Lizard when his attempt to regrow his arm like the reptile went horribly wrong.

In a Duke University School of Medicine study titled "Modulation of tissue repair by regeneration enhancer elements," which was published in Nature on April 6, researchers discovered that the genes that activate regeneration in zebrafish have similar gene counterparts in mammals.

"We want to know how regeneration happens, with the ultimate goal of helping humans realize their full regenerative potential," Dr. Kenneth D. Poss, senior author of the study and professor of cell biology at Duke, said.

Instead of focusing on the actual cell and tissue regeneration, however, the research team focused on discovering "tissue regeneration enhancer elements" or TREEs, or specific genes that act as a switch that would signal when a tissue needs repair, when a tissue is being repaired and when a tissue completes repair.

Of course, the task is hardly ever easy but this is where the zebrafish comes in. The lead study author, Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Junsu Kang, monitored zebrafish with damaged fins or hearts and he observed that a gene called "leptin b" was "turned on," as opposed to the fishes in full health.

Next, Dr. Kang painstakingly examined the 150,000 base pairs of genes around leptin b and identified a TREE some 7,000 base pairs away. He also found that the enhancer element can be further divided into two parts: the first part is focused on repairing amputated or damaged fins, and the other on repairing the damaged heart.

As an extension to the study, Dr. Brian L. Black, the research collaborator from the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California in San Francisco, borrowed the genes from the zebrafish to create transgenic mice and he found that the TREEs triggered regeneration in the injured paws or hearts.

With further study on mammals, the study could potentially lead to a way to help humans regenerate amputated limbs.

"Our study points to a way that we could potentially awaken the genes responsible for regeneration that we all carry within us," Dr. Poss said.

Photo: NICHD/ J. Swan | Flickr