Protein primes mouse stem cells to quickly repair injury, study finds
Mice given the priming protein recover muscle function more quickly after damage, their skin heals more rapidly and even the shaved area around the injury regrows hair more quickly, the study found. Harnessing the power of this protein may one day help people recover more quickly from surgery or restore youthful vigor to aging stem cells. "We're trying to better understand wound healing in response to trauma and aging," said Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences. "We've shown that muscle and bone marrow stem cells enter a stage of alertness in response to distant injury that allows them to spring into action more quickly. Now we've pinpointed the protein responsible for priming them to do what they do better and faster." Rando, who also directs Stanford's Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging, is the senior author of the study, which will be published April 18 in Cell Reports . Former postdoctoral scholar Jos...