Recent studies of postamputational repair following digit-tip amputation revealed an unexpected correlation between nail regrowth and bone regrowth in mice. To examine putative effects of nail on bone regrowth, phalangeal tips were amputated such that nail was artificially removed from distal levels or retained following proximal level amputations. In the absence of nail, bone did not regrow at distal levels. Conversely, when nail was surgically retained bone regrew from proximal levels. The nail organ profoundly influences bone regrowth.
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Zhao et al. (1995) studied this question.
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