• Activation of this transgene blocks regeneration of the tail and limb of Xenopus tadpoles. (biomedcentral.com)
  • Here we review recent insights into the biophysical, biochemical, and epigenetic processes that underlie regenerative healing in amphibians, focusing particularly on tail and limb regeneration in Xenopus . (frontiersin.org)
  • Xenopus tadpoles can regenerate their tails, limb buds and the lens of the eye, although the ability of the latter two organs to regenerate diminishes with advancing developmental stage. (biomedcentral.com)
  • Gene Ontology analysis showed that genes involved in embryonic development and growth are significantly over-represented in regenerating early hindlimb buds and that successful regeneration in the Xenopus hindlimb correlates with the induction of stress response pathways. (biomedcentral.com)
  • Gene over-expression analyses in Xenopus limb and tail regeneration have indicated that successful regeneration requires the re-activation of developmental FGF or BMP signalling pathways [ 8 - 12 ]. (biomedcentral.com)
  • The wound epithelium of N1 transgenic hindlimb buds, which forms over the cut surface of the limb bud after amputation, does not transition normally into the distal thickened apical epithelial cap. (biomedcentral.com)
  • N1 transgenic hindlimbs, which do not regenerate, do not form an apical epithelial cap or cone shaped blastema following amputation. (biomedcentral.com)
  • In mammals, a limb amputation or spinal cord transection is followed by inflammation and fibrotic scarring that leaves the animal with a permanent disability. (frontiersin.org)
  • Injuries that sever tissues such as the limb or spinal cord are met with radically different outcomes among vertebrates. (frontiersin.org)
  • In urodele amphibians such as axolotls and newts, the same injury is followed by scarless regenerative healing that can fully restore both the lost tissue and its function (reviewed in Tanaka, 2016 ). (frontiersin.org)
  • Once the wound is healed, the cells of the stump must mobilise under the wound epidermis and begin the process of replacing lost tissues, by forming a proliferating blastema. (biomedcentral.com)
  • Epimorphic regeneration is the process by which complete regeneration of a complex structure such as a limb occurs through production of a proliferating blastema. (biomedcentral.com)
  • Furthermore, the underlying mesenchyme remains rounded and does not expand to form a cone shaped blastema, a normal feature of successful regeneration. (biomedcentral.com)
  • While all vertebrates are capable of some types of tissue regeneration, most, including humans, have lost the ability to regenerate whole structures such as limbs ( epimorphic regeneration ), [ 1 ]. (biomedcentral.com)
  • We have used this line to show that BMP function is not only required for appendage regeneration but that it is specifically needed to generate a proliferating blastema while being dispensable for wound healing [ 12 ]. (biomedcentral.com)
  • Elegant experiments using heat-shock inducible expression of inhibitory proteins have further refined these observations to establish epistatic relationships, in which BMP acts upstream of Wnt, which in turn acts upstream of FGF during regeneration of the limb bud and tail ( Lin and Slack, 2008 ). (frontiersin.org)