My grandfather’s brother cut the last joint of his index finger off when they were kids. It was a case of “I bet you can’t move your finger in time!” “Oh crap, you didn’t move your finger in time!” when the older brother was chopping wood.

Doctor who sewed it back on was drunk. It’s crooked.

It does promote regeneration of nearby tissue into the shape of the matrix provided. Seven years ago, they’d already made artificial bladders, repaired heart wounds and heart valves in dogs, and it did great work on skin (no hair regrowth though) The biggest problem is that pig bladder and pig intestine ecm is flimsy. You could use it to rebuild someone’s aorta if you could get it to just not break in the meantime…. I don’t know what progress they’ve made since then.

And while…

- … whole fingertips can be re-grown by kids of age up to 11;
- … scientists are currently looking into the protein paths and cell types that could allow for this sort of thing in older people,
- … they have managed to re-grow the entire wing of a chicken embryo;
- … many reptiles can regrow limbs and tails (including the bone structure), and adult humans can re-grow livers starting with only a small piece of a healthy liver;
- … how bones grow (given factors like the hormones around them, age, and the loads they are under) is fairly well-understood (thus allowing most fractures to be heal-able with proper care);

… scientists have not, AFAIK, been able to lead an adult human to regrow a body part that includes bones.

References:

http://amos.indiana.edu/library/losearm.ram

http://www.bmes.org/Whitaker/ViewCourseDetail.aspx?InstID=41&CourseID=5485

Then again…

http://www.denverpost.com/healthcare/ci_5258972

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/106787.aspx

Bacon placebo, Mmmmm.

http://www.esquire.com/features/esquire-100/pigfinger1007

—

The scientists didn’t believe in the Law of Unintended Consequences. So they went ahead with their extracellular matrix experiments. But little did they know that a renegade researcher sent some of the untested powder to his brother after a fingertip accident involving a model airplane.

“Put the powder on the finger,” read the instructions. And the brother did just that.

ON THE DETACHED FINGERTIP.

Now a new movie from New Line Cinema… The Fingertip. Rated R for Gore and Violence.

what else might we be able to regenerate? a hand? an arm? two arms? two arms and a leg? organs? brain or nerve tissue?

if the gentleman’s new fingernails grow back faster, then maybe people who value perfect hands will chop off their old ones to regenerate fresh new ones….

or maybe they’ll chop even more off than just a hand… maybe they’ll systematically replace their whole body? nose? face? lips? both legs, replaced with newborn flesh? get rid of all that extra skin from a big weight loss? hands, arms, legs, feet, torso? private parts?

and if this is a plentiful resource that can come out of all those pigs we slaughter every day.. wow. imagine what people will be doing…

I read an article just last week about this; the doc in the article said we can regrow fingertips from tip to to the distal joint (between the fingertip and where the finger first bends). He also mentioned he wishes he could figure out what the difference between amputations above and below that joint.

I couldn’t remember where I read the article, but came across this one online: Regeneration in higher vertebrates: Limb buds and digit tips which stated: “For both children and adults, regeneration of the fingertip involves the integrated regeneration of many tissues, including nail matrix, nail bed, finger pulp, sensory organs, dermis and epidermis, all of which reform to a normal or near normal cosmetic and physiological state through healing by secondary intention.” No mention of pig bladders or bacon at all.

Thirty years later, if I could (1) get a doctor to remove the skin graft and nasty fingertip I have lived with, and (2) find someone to sell me the damned powder, I’d do the regenerated finger thing in a heartbeat. I suppose I’d have to get used to having a different length finger all over again, as well.

If you find the article about fingertip amputations that he published (not sure if it was in the Journal of the New England Medical Association or some other august tome), I’m the left hand with the silver and turquoise ring on the little finger. The skin graft site on my left forearm looked like some sort of weird postage stamps (there were two done) for many years, but it’s barely perceptible now. Time flies.

The technology has been improving for awhile, so I do hope it becomes reliable enough for the masses, soon.