Views on Antlers Then and Now: Past and Present Concepts of Their Development and Histogenesis

Antlers are regularly replaced bony appendages that are grown, cast and regenerated from permanent outgrowths (pedicles) of the frontal bones of male deer (and female reindeer/caribou, Rangifer tarandus). Their enormous growth rate, periodic epimorphic regeneration, tight association with the reproductive cycle in species from temperate and arctic regions, and low susceptibility to carcinogenesis make antlers highly interesting study subjects for different scientific disciplines, including bone biology, regenerative medicine and cancer research. The exceptional properties of antlers have fascinated scholars since the time of Aristotle, and in the past, many prominent scientists expressed their views on these “improbable appendages”. This contribution reviews some historical concepts related to the development and histogenesis of antlers and contrasts them with our currently held views on these issues. In doing so, we attempt to provide today’s antler scientists with a sense of the long research tradition in the field and to demonstrate how our current ideas on the mechanisms underlying the development and regeneration of antlers have evolved.