Pig extract 'helps fingers regrow'
Researchers in the US are finding ways to regrow fingers - and one day maybe even limbs - by unusual and pioneering techniques.
One man sliced off a fingertip, only for it to grow back after he applied extract of pig's bladder to the wound, and scientists have managed to grow extra arms on salamanders.
Scientists are now planning to see whether the powdered pig extract can help injured soldiers regrow parts of their fingers. A large government-funded project is also trying to unlock the secrets of how some animals regrow body parts so well, with hopes of applying the lessons to humans.
One person to benefit is Lee Spievack, 69, a hobby-store salesman in Cincinnati, Ohio, who severed his right middle finger to the bone in an accident with the propellor of a model plane in August 2005.
Mr Spievack's chance at recovery came in the shape of his brother Dr Alan Spievak, a former Harvard surgeon who had founded a company called ACell, that makes an extract of pig bladder for promoting healing and tissue regeneration.
The extract has been used in the treatment of ulcers and other wounds and to help regrow cartilage.
Lee Spievack took his brother's advice to forget about a skin graft and try the pig powder. Within four weeks of using the preparation, his finger had regained its original length, he says, and in four months "it looked like my normal finger".
The implications for regrowing fingers go beyond the cosmetic. People who are missing all or most of their fingers, as from an explosion or a fire, often cannot pick things up, brush their teeth or button their clothes. Experts say that even if they could grow just a small stub, it could make a huge difference in their lives.
The powder was mostly collagen and a variety of substances, without any pig cells, said Dr Stephen Badylak, a regeneration expert at the University of Pittsburgh and scientific adviser to ACell.
It forms microscopic scaffolding for incoming human cells to occupy, and it emits chemical signals to encourage those cells to regenerate tissue, he said. Those signals do not specifically say "make a finger", but cells pick up that message from their surroundings, he says.
