Amputee frogs regain their limbs… Will it work with humans?

Using Bio-Dome shortly after amputation would place the wound in a sterile environment, mimicking the amniotic fluid that allows the fetus to develop in the mother’s womb.

paralyzed crab. On the other hand, regeneration of a missing leg in mammals is a priori impossible. But can this situation change?

Writer Gael Lombart answers this question in his article published by the French newspaper “Le Parisien” on January 27, through research published by the journal Science Advances.

Growing amputated legs

Lombart says that scientists from Tufts University in Boston and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute have succeeded in regrowth of amputated legs from a group of frogs, raising hopes of doing the same with mammals, and specifically with humans.

The writer states that the process that was used was very simple; Where the researchers applied a mixture of 5 drugs to the wounds for 24 hours by encapsulating them with a silicone cover called “Bio Dome.” After this short treatment, the upper part of the legs grew again after 18 months, and the research team confirmed that the new limbs were fully functional and allowed the frogs Swimming like everyone else again.

The author quotes Nerusha Murugan, the study’s lead author, as confirming that the treated animal had intentional movement and was responding to the lightest tactile stimulation, while the untreated animals did not respond to any level of tactile stimulation, indicating that the animals treated with the drug regained the growth of their nerves and connections. Kinetic.

non-random choice

The author explains that the amphibians used in the experiment were not chosen randomly; The soft xylem frog – an African clawed frog – like humans loses its ability to regenerate as it grows.

A biologist at Tufts University says – according to the author – “Frogs move from being completely renewable, when they are in the tadpole stage, to being completely non-renewable like adults, and this is similar to humans, early in our development process, in the embryonic stage and in the early years what After birth, humans have some ability to regenerate but lose it completely in adulthood.”

Lombart shows that normally, large injuries to the legs or arms are quickly covered with skin cells to protect the individual from blood loss or infection, which prevents the limbs from regrowth.

Source : Here