Post created by Sarah
I recently acquired 2 new family pets; axolotls. If you don't know what an axolotl is, it's a pretty fascinating little critter. Nearly extinct in its native habitat in Mexico, axolotls are basically the juvenile form of a salamander that never metamorphizes into the adult form. They retain their gills and they live in water their entire lives.
Even more incredible, is their ability to regrow their limbs, spinal cord, heart and other organs. While, re-growing limbs and tails is not exclusive to the axolotl, they are the only vertebrates that retain the ability to regrow limbs their entire life. That's why this super-hero salamander is being studied by scientists who may have found the key to human limb regeneration.
The process in which axolotls regenerate limbs is incredible. The axolotl cells divide rapidly at the trauma site, forming what is known as a blastema. The blastema cells can differentiate, just like stem cells, forming into whatever type of cell is needed to replace the missing limb.
In one research study, scientists inserted blastema cells of an axolotl's arm, onto its eye, to see if it would regenerate the arm where the eye should go. The results were astonishing. The blastema cells from the arm that were deposited in the eye socket, regrew the eye, not the arm. The axolotl's cells knew where they were in relation to where they originated from.
Scientists are beginning to use the data from the growth hormone in axolotls that is responsible for limb regeneration, in humans. So far, they have been able to prevent scar tissue in a damaged human embryo, as well as re-generate missing limbs in mice. However, like most animals capable of regeneration, the humans and mice both, were unable to retain this ability beyond early stages of life. I suppose only time will tell whether these fascinating super-hero salamanders will be able to make scientific leaps and bounds before they are completely extinct. For now, I'll just enjoy the company of my two new amazing axolotls; Westley and Buttercup.
References:
de Both N. J. (1970). The developmental potencies of the regeneration blastema of the axolotl limb. Wilhelm Roux' Archiv fur Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen, 165(3), 242–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01380787
Dunlap, Garrett. (2018). Regeneration: what the axolotl can teach us about regrowing human limbs. Harvard University graduate school of arts and sciences. http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/regeneration-axolotl-can-teach-us-regrowing-human-limbs/
Vance, Erik. (2017). Biology's beloved amphibian-the axolotl-is racing toward extinction. Nature Magazine. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/biologys-beloved-amphibian-the-axolotl-is-racing-toward-extinction1/.
◄ My Football Career is Over...Maybe?
EMS: The Fast Track to Abs? ►