Spiny Mice (Acomys) Have Evolved Cellular Features to Support Regenerative Healing

This study observed that cutaneous microwounds created by fractional photothermolysis heal differently from typical wounds, displaying rapid re-epithelialization and limited inflammation, which may help reduce scar formation by delaying collagen remodeling and minimizing myofibroblast activation.

This study developed an improved reference genome for the African spiny mouse using long Nanopore sequencing reads, potentially aiding future research into the species' remarkable tissue regeneration capabilities.

This study found that in spiny mice, the proximal side of ear wounds is crucial for regeneration, a process possibly linked to unique injury-induced immune responses compared to nonregenerative rodents.

This study found that sustained ERK activity during tissue regeneration in spiny mice is linked to fibroblast growth factor and ErbB signaling, while inhibiting ERK shifted regeneration toward scarring.

This study suggests that incorporating matrisomal components into biomaterials could enhance skin wound healing in mammals that do not naturally regenerate tissues like the axolotl and Acomys.

In this study, spiny mice showed superior cardiac recovery after myocardial infarction compared to other mouse strains, with enhanced myocardial preservation and functional stabilization.

This review discusses the development, lineages, functions, and roles of fibroblasts in fibrosis across four organs, highlighting their capabilities in tissue repair and contributions to fibrotic disorders when aberrantly activated, but it reports no new experimental findings.

This study found that in wound-induced hair neogenesis, African spiny mice and laboratory mice exhibit different morphogenetic field formation patterns related to tissue stiffness, suggesting evolutionary developmental biology advantages.

This study found that upper wound fibroblasts are crucial for hair follicle regeneration during wound healing and suggests that these cells, along with papillary fibroblasts, migrate within the wound.

In this study, researchers observed that African spiny mice, Acomys cahirinus, are capable of regenerating skeletal muscle in dermal wound sites, unlike common mice, Mus musculus.

This study explored the regenerative abilities of the African spiny mouse's skin, revealing more robust wound-induced hair follicle neogenesis compared to laboratory mice and highlighting unique features of its hair and wound response.

In this study, researchers found that wound healing in mouse skin recruits diverse fibroblasts, including myeloid-derived cells, which contribute to regenerating adipocytes.

This study found that the spiny mouse can regenerate tissues such as skeletal muscle, dermis, and hair without scarring after full thickness thermal burns, unlike the lab mouse.

Two main types of fibroblasts with unique functions and additional subtypes were identified in human skin.

This review discusses mammalian models of epimorphic regeneration to define a vertebrate regeneration blastema, concluding that regenerative failure likely stems from cellular responses to the microenvironment after injury, not progenitor cell availability, and calls for targeted modification studies in mammals to advance human regeneration.

This study found that hair follicles in mice and humans can convert wound-related myofibroblasts into adipocytes, suggesting a potential pathway to reduce scar formation by activating BMP signaling.

This study suggests that the postnatal loss of hair follicle formation in wounds may be due to elevated Wnt/β-catenin activation in the dermis, affecting fibroblast function in mice.

This review discusses the role of epidermal and other adult stem cells in skin repair, focusing on their potential therapeutic applications for non-healing wounds and other skin disorders, but reports no new research results.

This study found that skin fibroblasts in mice arise from two distinct lineages which contribute differently to dermal structure and repair, impacting hair follicle formation during wound healing.

This study reports the first instance of skin autotomy in mammals, specifically in African spiny mice, and suggests they may possess a greater regenerative capacity than previously understood, possibly offering insights for regenerative medicine.

This review discusses genome maintenance mechanisms critical for preventing age-related diseases by preserving stem and progenitor cell potential, but reports no new empirical findings.

This review highlights the unique scarless wound healing abilities of fetuses and discusses potential applications to adult wound healing, reporting no new experimental findings.