Frogs Without Legs Regrow Leglike Limbs In New Experiment (nytimes.com) 17
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: African clawed frogs are masters of putting themselves back together, handily regenerating lost tails and hind limbs, when they are tadpoles. But these powers dim with maturity. Wait for an adult frog to regrow a lopped-off limb and you'll see only a tapered spike, more like a talon than a leg. Now, a group of scientists have found a way to harness the adult frog's own cells to regrow an imperfect but functional limb. The researchers placed a silicone cap laden with a mixture of regenerative drugs onto an amputation wound for 24 hours. Over the next 18 months, the frogs gradually regrew what was lost, forming a new leglike structure with nerves, muscles, bones and even toelike projections.
The researchers describe this approach, which builds on earlier research, in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. The process could guide future research on limb regeneration in humans, but it will be challenging to replicate the results in mammals. "It was a total surprise," Nirosha Murugan, a researcher at Algoma University in Ontario, Canada, and an author of the paper, said of the complexity of the regrown limb. "I didn't think we would get the patterning that we did." "It's not a full limb that's regrown," said Kelly Tseng, a biologist studying regeneration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who was not involved with the research. "But it's certainly a robust response." "It is particularly promising that only a daylong treatment can have such a positive effect on an adult animal," Can Aztekin, a researcher studying limb regeneration at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne who was not involved with the research, wrote in an email.
The researchers describe this approach, which builds on earlier research, in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. The process could guide future research on limb regeneration in humans, but it will be challenging to replicate the results in mammals. "It was a total surprise," Nirosha Murugan, a researcher at Algoma University in Ontario, Canada, and an author of the paper, said of the complexity of the regrown limb. "I didn't think we would get the patterning that we did." "It's not a full limb that's regrown," said Kelly Tseng, a biologist studying regeneration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who was not involved with the research. "But it's certainly a robust response." "It is particularly promising that only a daylong treatment can have such a positive effect on an adult animal," Can Aztekin, a researcher studying limb regeneration at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne who was not involved with the research, wrote in an email.
Well, on the tour, (Score:2)
you bred raptors? (Score:2)
you bred raptors?
Great news (Score:4, Funny)
..for the French.
Re: (Score:2)
Would it be a plus or a minus for PETA if, instead of killing frogs to eat their legs, you just kept harvesting their legs and re-growing them?
Re: (Score:2)
Are these regrown legs edible? (Score:3)
He was saying, Dios mío! Los precios de las ancas de rana están por las nubes! Y estoy tirando el resto de la rana a la basura!
Re: (Score:2)
Just asking for a French chef friend.
He was saying, Dios mío! Los precios de las ancas de rana están por las nubes! Y estoy tirando el resto de la rana a la basura!
Your French chef speaks Spanish. Cool.
Re: (Score:2)
Similar? (Score:2)
Better for prosthetics? (Score:3)
While they point out the regenerated limb wasn't identical to the amputated one, it did have musculature, bones, nerves. If this could be done with a human sometime down the road this partial limp might be a better attachment point for a prosthetic limb. Rather than re-train the injured person to use shoulder muscles to activate a gripping hand, a full set of new nerves might make a more complete set of maneuvers possible. More distinct nerves in the regenerated limp might also be good for sensory feedback from a prosthesis.
While full regeneration might be the long-term goal, partial regeneration might provide a superior way to mount and operate a prosthetic limb sooner than that.
fractalfrog > octofrog (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Looking at the timescales, 18 months is a significant chunk of the lifetime of a human. But for the frog, it's likely to have been half or a third of it's adult life. Since both are vertebrates, that's likely to give a decent guide to what you can expect from a human treatment.
I could see how, if this tec
Hyperbole and Superlatives (Score:2)
"It was a total surprise"
If this was true, it seems hard to believe that they would have spent the time and effort to place a silicone cap laden with a mixture of regenerative drugs onto an amputation wound for 24 hours and then observe them for 18 months.
Re: (Score:2)
Proof biology is not science ... and worse (Score:2)
From the article: "It was a total surprise,"
So ... they partly butchered an animal to see what would happen. There is something deeply wrong with that as follows:
a) lacking any first principals biology proceeds largely by the destruction of something with little, if any, hypothesizing and/or simulation; and
b) that is a concern because it requires a mind-set that by and large puts the well-being of whatever they study as secondary to their curiousity. Given the proper context even experimentation on hum