To Heal Some Wounds, Adult Cells Turn More Fetal

August 31, 2018

(Quanta Magazine) – But new results suggest that that plasticity may go even deeper than scientists have thought. Three research teams have observed that during tissue regeneration, the typical solutions offered by adult stem cells (and the de-differentiated cells resembling them) aren’t enough. Instead, the cells of the damaged tissue turn the clock back all the way to a more fetal state, tapping into the proliferative power that once characterized development — and a program thought to have long gone silent.