Wound healing is actually a very appropriate example of the regenerative process of the body. A properly healed wound has lost little or none of the structure or function of the original tissue before it was damaged. Unfortunately, with aging, as tissue damage occurs, there is a tendency toward more and more inflammation and scarring resulting in a loss of structure and function of the respective tissue.
The good news is that the ultimate determining or limiting factor in healing and regeneration appears to be primarily environmental, not genetic. Environmental factors such as temperature and nutrition play a particularly important role in that regard. The types of fats we eat, for example, have a profound effect on the types of signaling factors produced during wound repair. Certain fats, such as specific polyunsaturated fatty acids, promote the production of inflammatory signaling factors, inhibiting the normal regenerative process. These fats can also directly harm certain immune cells called macrophages that are necessary in the regeneration of tissue.
Thyroid hormone is another endogenous factor that plays a key role in regeneration, the production and function of which is profoundly influenced by the environment, including light exposure and nutrition. Carbon dioxide and the youth associated hormones are yet other important factors in healing and regeneration, similarly influenced by the environment of the cell, tissue, and organism.
References
Regeneration and degeneration: Types of inflammation change with aging - Ray Peat
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