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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Amphibians Have a Leg Up on Mammals

Mexican salamanders who can re-grow amputated legs are not pulling off quite as big a biological trick as scientists had first thought, which may help doctors trying to regenerate human limbs.

The little buds that eventually produce a brand-new leg have not completely reverted to an embryo-like stage, the researchers reported in the journal Nature.

Instead, they seem to form a new leg from cells that partly remember how to make bone, muscle, or nerve tissue, Elly Tanaka of the Center for Regenerative Therapies in Dresden, Germany, and colleagues reported.

However, how the little animals called axolotls or water monsters do this is still a mystery.

"How this is achieved in the salamander and why it does not occur in mammals remains an important question," the researchers wrote.

link: Regenerated legs no big trick for salamanders | Science | Reuters


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