How do fingers grow and can they regenerate

手指和脚趾是由一系列被称为指骨的小骨头组成的节段结构，指骨由滑膜关节分开。虽然在胚胎发育过程中形成的手指数量是高度保守的，也是理解胚胎发育一般机制的经典模型，但手指和脚趾实际上是如何生长和分节的，从根本上来说是未知的。然而，手指发育改变是先天性手足差异最常见的形式，对人类和动物的福利具有重要意义。例如，据估计，在人类活产婴儿中，高达2%的人会出现指骨小或畸形的短指畸形。我们的数字在访问和操纵我们的环境方面也发挥着重要作用，但正如大多数人所知，这经常导致损害甚至损失！失去手指或脚趾会对功能产生深远的影响，尤其是像许多脊椎动物一样，人类再生手指的能力非常有限。该项目旨在首次利用表达软骨的鸡胚胎的卵前成像技术，结合计算机视觉分析，来可视化手指的生长，以回答“手指是如何生长的？”这个问题。

Digits- fingers and toes, are segmental structures made up along their length by a series of small bones called phalanges, separated by synovial joints. While the number of digits which form during embryonic development is both highly conserved and a classical model to understand the general mechanisms of embryonic development, how fingers and toes actually grow out and segment is fundamentally unknown. Altered digit development is, however, the most common form of congenital hand or foot differences with important implications for welfare of people and animals. Brachydactyly, for example, in which phalanges are small or malformed is estimated to occur in up to 2% of human live births. Our digits also play an important role in accessing and manipulating our environment, but as most people know, this frequently leads to damage or even loss! A loss of a finger or toe, has profound functional consequences, especially as humans, like many vertebrates, have a very limited ability to regenerate their digits. This project aims, for the first time, to visualise digit outgrowth using ex-ovo imaging of chicken embryos expressing cartilage reporters, combined with computer visions analysis, to answer the question 'How does a finger grow?'.