Remyelination is an example of central nervous system (CNS) regeneration, whereby myelin is restored around demyelinated axons, re-establishing saltatory conduction and trophic/metabolic support. In progressive multiple sclerosis, remyelination is limited or fails altogether which is considered to contribute to axonal damage/loss and consequent disability. Macrophages have critical roles in bot...

Lineal (poloxamers or Pluronic®) or X-shaped (poloxamines or Tetronic®) amphiphilic tri-block copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) have been broadly explored for controlled drug delivery in different regenerative medicine approaches. The ability of these copolymers to self-assemble as micelles and to undergo sol-to-gel transitions upon heating has endowed t...

PSCs (pluripotent stem cells) possess two key properties that have made them the focus of global research efforts in regenerative medicine: they have unlimited expansion potential under conditions which favour their preservation as PSCs and they have the ability to generate all somatic cell types upon differentiation (pluripotency). Conditions have been defined in vitro in which pluripotency is...

The regulative ability of the regeneration blastema has been studied by the technique of partial irradiation. Longitudinal halves of fore- and hindlimbs were irradiated and the product of regeneration from the unirradiated halves characterized. Such half irradiated limbs could regulate only to a very limited extent. In the upper arms the anterior halves merely produced a few autopodial elements...

One of the major challenges in regenerative medicine is the ability to recreate the stem cell niche, which is defined by its signaling molecules, the creation of cytokine gradients, and the modulation of matrix stiffness. A wide range of scaffolds has been developed in order to recapitulate the stem cell niche, among them hydrogels. This paper reports the development of a new silk-alginate base...

Capacity of adult muscle to regenerate in response to injury stimuli represents an important homeostatic process. Regeneration is a highly coordinated program that partially recapitulates the embryonic developmental program. However, muscle regeneration is severely compromised in several pathological conditions. It is likely that the restricted tissue repair program under pathological condition...

Planarians are capable of profound regenerative feats dependent upon a population of self-renewing adult stem cells called neoblasts. The key features of neoblasts are their capacity for indefinite self-renewal, their totipotency and the ability of their progeny to interpret differentiation and polarity signals and correctly replace lost structures after tissue damage. Regeneration in planarian...

Placental structures, capable to persist in a genetically foreign organism, are a natural model of allogeneic engraftment carrying a number of distinctive properties. In this review, the main features of the placenta and its derivatives such as structure, cellular composition, immunological and endocrine aspects, and the ability to invasion and deportation are discussed. These features are cons...

Axon regeneration in adult central nervous system (CNS) is limited in part by a developmental decline in the ability of injured neurons to re-express needed regeneration associated genes (RAGs). Adult CNS neurons may lack appropriate pro-regenerative transcription factors, or may display chromatin structure that restricts transcriptional access to RAGs. Here we performed epigenetic profiling ar...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) retain the ability to self-renew and differentiate into mesenchymal cells. Therefore, human MSCs are suitable candidates for use in regenerative medicine and cell therapies. Upon activation by tissue damage, MSCs contribute to tissue repair through a multitude of processes such as self-renewal, migration, and differentiation. However, loss of self-renewal and multi...