Adult frogs regrow functional legs after a 24-hour drug treatment
A wearable silicone bioreactor delivering a five-drug cocktail to amputation sites for one day triggered 18 months of leg regrowth in adult African clawed frogs, which normally cannot regenerate limbs.
What happened
Researchers sealed a silicone cap, the "BioDome", over the amputation site of adult Xenopus laevis frogs for 24 hours. The cap held a silk-protein gel loaded with five compounds chosen to reduce inflammation, block collagen scarring, and encourage the growth of nerves, blood vessels and muscle. Over the following 18 months, treated frogs regrew legs with bone, nerves and toe-like projections, and used them to swim and respond to touch.
Why it matters
Adult Xenopus, like humans, normally heal amputations with a scar-covered spike. The study showed that a short treatment at the start can switch on a long-lasting regenerative program, rather than requiring the growth to be controlled throughout. The Levin lab sees this as evidence that the body can be prompted to rebuild itself.
Caveats
The regrown limbs were not perfect copies, and the treatment was a drug cocktail, so the result does not show that a purely bioelectric intervention regrows limbs. Frogs are far from mammals, and no comparable result has been reported in mammals.
Acute multidrug delivery via a wearable bioreactor facilitates long-term limb regeneration and functional recovery in adult Xenopus laevis
Read at Science Advances ↗