if i chopped of my hand could it be possible for it to grow back

Question: if i chopped of my hand could it be possible for it to grow back

Asked by adamrussell to Fiona, Joanna, Michelle, William on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
- William Davies answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  Not at the moment. We are just beginning to understand the cellular processes which are involved in these so-called regenerative processes in animals like salamanders and frogs. when we understand them a bit more, we might be able to develop drugs that cause human tissues to grow back after injury or illness (regenerative medicine)
- Fiona Randall answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  Hi Adamrussell, not yet. Once cells develop into limb or an organ they are what is called terminally differentiated and no longer have the capacity to become a limb. Where the skin had gone it would heal over but not grow back. However, with stem cells in the future it may be possible to reprogramme the stem cells to make a new hand. That is a long way from being possible though.
- Michelle Murphy answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  if you chopped it of completely then not at the moment if it was only partially chopped you might be lucky enough that if could be sown back but you may still have some nerve damage. There are fish called axolotyls that can regrow limbs and they are being studied to try and understand how they do this.
- Joanna Brooks answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  Hello again! At present no, but it’s possible that in the future science will find a way to do this as scientists have already discovered how to grow human ears on mice for example. In the future they might be able to re-grow a hand.
  
  BTW did you do the quiz to find out what sex your brain is? Follow the link!
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml

Question: if i chopped of my hand could it be possible for it to grow back

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