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Nature 447, 265-266 (17 May 2007) | doi:10.1038/447265a; Published online 16 May 2007

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Regenerative biology: New hair from healing wounds

Cheng-Ming Chuong1

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In mammals, most wounds heal by repair, not regeneration. It now seems that, as they heal, open skin wounds in adult mice form new hair follicles that follow similar developmental paths to those of embryos.

A person whose leg is amputated is left with a stump, whereas some amphibians have the awe-inspiring ability to regenerate new limbs after amputation. Overall, adult mammals have very limited regenerative ability; this could be due to a lack of stem cells or the absence of proper environmental signals.

  1. Cheng-Ming Chuong is in the Department of Pathology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033, USA.
    Email: chuong@pathfinder.usc.edu