Cellular Focus: OVC Regenerative Medicine Lab Offers Promising Research Applications for Humans and Animals

Unlike many amphibians and non-mammals that can regenerate—or re-grow—injured tissue and lost limbs, the default healing process in humans and other mammals is scarring.

When scarring occurs, the original, damaged cells are replaced with fibrous tissue. This process can have negative impacts for humans and pets because scars can be painful, disfiguring, and can create functional issues in the affected tissues and organs.

In contrast, regeneration is the ability to replace injured tissues with the original cell types and restore normal function. The application of this phenomenon in mammals is a new, yet promising, area of study; and a researcher at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) is working to advance discovery in this field.

“Lots of non-mammalian species are good at regeneration and have been studied for a long time. But we don’t know how that translates to mammals, so we need to understand this process on a cellular level,” says Dr. Samantha Payne, professor and regenerative medicine researcher in OVC’s Department of Biomedical Sciences.

Payne’s lab is working to lay the foundations for regenerative medicine in mammals. Her research focuses on the basic biology of scarring—specifically, studying the role of the peripheral nervous system, or the nerves that branch out from the brain and spinal cord of the central system - and how these nerve cells influence the process.

“We’re looking for ways to improve wound healing and regeneration of different organs to improve the overall healing process for mammals,” says Payne. “Our research aims to understand how neurons affect healing to ultimately transform the response from scarring to restoration of the original tissue and function.”

Payne’s lab takes a two-pronged approach to researching this topic, both by studying tissue regeneration in rodents, and by modelling injury scenarios on a cellular level in a dish. The combined results from their rodent studies and cellular models can be used to better understand the molecular drivers of the injury response and regeneration in humans.

“Children actually have the ability to regenerate the tip of their finger if it is injured, but we lose this ability as we age,” says Payne. “Mice can also undergo digit tip regeneration and act as a spontaneous model for us to observe what happens and understand the healing process at a cellular level.”

Payne says that laying this groundwork may help researchers develop therapies for regenerating damaged tissues from surgeries, burns, and more.

“It doesn’t matter how an injury happens, the response and healing process is very similar, so we are looking to apply our research to lots of scenarios,” said Payne “Down the line, our findings could be used to develop therapeutic treatments, like regenerating cells to prevent post-surgical scarring in humans and companion animals.”

An OVC alumna herself — having completed an MSc. in 2012 under the supervision of Biomedical Sciences professor Dr. Matt Vickaryous — Payne has spent much of her research career contributing to OVC discoveries. Now, as faculty, Payne’s lab is poised for her to continue making strong research advances in human and veterinary medicine.

As a research-focused institution with on-site clinical facilities and extensive expertise in this area, OVC fosters a collaborative environment for Payne’s lab to collaborate with clinicians, veterinary, and human researchers to advance regenerative medicine applications and make steps towards new therapies.

Payne says that having access to these diverse resources ensures that her research can be applied to humans and animals alike.

“OVC’s Department of Biomedical Sciences is a very interesting research environment with a unique mix of biologists, veterinarians and other specialists,” said Payne. “It’s a great place to form collaborations that you wouldn’t find elsewhere with many different research paths and opportunities.”

This story originally appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of The Crest, the research, teaching and health care magazine of the Ontario Veterinary College.