Induced Regeneration of Skin and Peripheral Nerves in the Adult

Injury to the mammalian fetus is reversible during early stages of gestation and the spontaneous wound response is capable of restoring the structure and function of the original organ, a process called regeneration. By contrast, the unimpaired response to severe injury in adult mammals is an irreversible repair process leading to closure of the injured site by contraction and formation of scar, a nonphysiological tissue. The consequences of irreversible healing at the organ scale are far-reaching: they typically result in an essentially nonfunctional organ.