NDLI: Why we cannot grow a human arm

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Ricci, John L.
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	There are several significant issues that prevent us from growing a human arm now, or within the next 10–20 years. From a tissue engineering perspective, while we can grow many of the components necessary for construction of a human arm, we can only grow them in relatively small volumes, and when scaled up to large volumes we lack the ability to develop adequate blood/nerve supply. From a genetic engineering perspective, we will probably never be able to turn on the specific genes necessary to “grow an arm” unless it is attached to a fetus and this presents enormous ethical issues related to farming of human organs and structures. Perhaps the most daunting problem facing the transplantation of a tissue engineered or transplanted arm is that of re-innervation of the structure. Since the sensory and motor nerve cells of the arm are located outside of the structure, re-innervation requires those nerves to regenerate over relatively large distances to repopulate the nervous system of the arm. This is something with which we have had little success. We can grow repair parts, but “growing an arm” presents too many insurmountable problems. The best we could possibly do with tissue engineering or genetic engineering would be the equivalent of a fetal arm and the technical problems, costs, and ethical hurdles are enormous. A more likely solution is a functional, permanent, neuroelectronically-controlled prosthesis. These are nearly a reality today.
Starting Page	2639
Ending Page	2643
Page Count	5
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09574530
Journal	Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine
Volume Number	24
Issue Number	11
e-ISSN	15734838
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2013-10-10
Publisher Place	Boston
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Biomaterials Polymer Sciences Ceramics, Glass, Composites, Natural Methods Metallic Materials Characterization and Evaluation of Materials Surfaces and Interfaces, Thin Films
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Biomaterials Biophysics Bioengineering Biomedical Engineering

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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