Regeneration is the ability of an organism to regrow or repair lost or damaged parts. The term can refer to both natural processes, such as the regeneration of a lost limb in certain animals, and artificial ones, such as the production of new cells in tissue engineering.
There are two basic types of regeneration: embryonic and adult. Embryonic regeneration occurs during development and is responsible for the formation of all the organs and tissues in the body. Adult regeneration, on the other hand, takes place after birth and is responsible for repairing damage or replacing lost tissue.
In many cases, regeneration involves the growth of new cells from existing ones. This process is known as cell proliferation. In other cases, regeneration may involve the formation of new tissue from stem cells. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the ability to differentiate into any number of specialized cell types.
The ability to regenerate lost or damaged tissue is widespread among plants and animals. However, there are some notable exceptions. For example, mammals generally have a very limited capacity for regenerating lost body parts (with some exceptions like rats and mice). On the other hand, some species of lizards can regenerate their tails if they are lost (a process known as autotomy).
Many different mechanisms have been proposed to explain how regeneration occurs at a molecular level. However, much remain unknown about this complex process. Studies on regenerating organisms may provide insight into how we can harness this power to heal injuries and diseases in humans