The human liver is renowned for its regenerative capabilities. Some researchers describe it as “one of the most amazing tissue injury response.”
“Liver regeneration […] has fascinated clinicians, surgeons, and scientists who have observed this apparently supernatural process and studied its mechanisms for many years,” write a group of researchers in a 2019 paper.
The not-so-supernatural process has cells called hepatocytes that split and proliferate in response to injury or loss. Even if 90 percent of the liver is lost, the repairing process will eventually recover the liver to its full size, though not necessarily its original shape.
Though the liver is most famous for regeneration and recovery, other cells, tissues and organs go through their own regular renewal; these parts of our body are in a continual state of repair, taking a variety of timespans.
