The amphibian limb is a model that has provided numerous insights into the principles and mechanisms of tissue and organ regeneration. While later stages of limb regeneration share mechanisms of growth control and patterning with limb development, the formation of a regeneration blastema is controlled by early events that are unique to regeneration. In this study, we present a stepwise experime...

The zebrafish fin provides a valuable model to study the epimorphic type of regeneration, whereby the amputated part of the appendage is nearly perfectly replaced. To accomplish fin regeneration, two reciprocally interacting domains need to be established at the injury site, namely a wound epithelium and a blastema. The wound epithelium provides a supporting niche for the blastema, which contai...

In most regenerating systems, blastema cells arise by dedifferentiation of functional tissue cells. In planarians, though, it is still debatable whether dedifferentiated cells or a population of undifferentiated cells, the neoblasts, are the main source of blastema cells. Moreover, it is unclear whether in the intact organisms neoblasts are quiescent cells 'reserved' for regeneration or if they...

OBJECTIVE We studied both the presence of some carbohydrate compounds in a threedimensional (3D) matrix harvested from human gingiva and the cell behavior in this matrix. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this experimental research, in order to prepare 3D scaffolds, human palatal gingival biopsies were harvested and physically decellularized by freezethawing and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The scaff...

A supernumerary kidney is defined as a true accessory organ with a collector system, blood circulation and independent encapsulated tissue. In contrast with the horseshoe kidney, this congenital abnormality is extremely rare.1 Kidneydevelopment begins in 2 structures during thefifthweek of gestation: the distal portion of the wolffian duct in which the collector tubules originate, and the renal...

Tissue and whole organ regeneration is a dramatic biological response to injury that occurs across different plant and animal phyla. It frequently requires the dedifferentiation of mature cells to a condensed mesenchymal blastema, from which replacement tissues develop. Human somatic cells cannot regenerate in this way and differentiation is considered irreversible under normal developmental co...

Formerly, many embryologists believed that the blastema cells in regenerating amphibian tails and limbs arose from a reserve of undifferentiated cells, but since the work of Hertwig (1927) and Butler (1935) few modern investigators would support this view. Others have suggested that blastema cells are of epidermal origin (Godlewski, 1928; Rose, 1948). However, this idea has largely fallen into ...

Certain species of urodeles and teleost fish can regenerate their tissues. Zebrafish have become a widely used model to study the spontaneous regeneration of adult tissues, such as the heart, retina, spinal cord, optic nerve, sensory hair cells, and fins. The zebrafish fin is a relatively simple appendage that is easily manipulated to study multiple stages in epimorphic regeneration. Classicall...

Several well-characterized extracellular matrix (ECM) components have been localized to the amphibian limb regenerate, but the identification and characterization of novel ECM molecules have received little attention. Here we describe, using mAb MT1 and immunocytochemistry, an ECM molecule expressed during limb regeneration and limb development. In limb stumps, mAb MT1 reactivity was restricted...

Vertebrate limb regeneration occurs in anamniotes such as newts, salamanders, and zebrafish. After appendage amputation, the resection site is covered by a wound epidermis capping the underlying mature tissues of the stump from which the blastema emerges. The blastema is a mass of progenitor cells that constitute an apical growth zone. During outgrowth formation, the proximal blastemal cells pr...