Biologists from the University of Tsukuba studied the processregeneration in the Japanese fire-bellied newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster). They tracked the state of muscle fibers during limb recovery, while body growth and metamorphosis were experimentally delayed or accelerated. The results indicate that metamorphosis and body growth are required for muscle dedifferentiation.
Newts, semi-aquatic salamanders, like mostother amphibians undergo metamorphoses. This is a deep transformation of the structure of the organism (or its individual organs), which occurs in the course of the development of the individual. But, unlike their relatives, newts are capable of repeated limb regeneration - even in the adult stage.
To restore limbs, tritonsdedifferentiate muscle fibers in the limb stump (turn muscle cells back into stem cells) and mobilize them to form muscles in the regenerating limb as they grow after metamorphosis.
In other experiments, scientists cultivatedmuscles of newt larvae with physiologically active thyroid hormone. It turned out that these fibers can dedifferentiate independently of body growth and metamorphosis. These results indicate that newt muscle fibers have an inherent ability to dedifferentiate, but that fibers require external factors to activate this ability, explaining the automountain of work.
We assume that changes in extracellularDevelopmental environments suppress the activity of myogenic stem cells—cells that can differentiate into muscle fibers—and promote the latent ability of muscle fibers to dedifferentiate.
Chikafumi Chiba, professor at the University of Tsukuba and study co-author
The authors of the work believe that the results of this study will help to better understand the processes of regeneration, as well as to develop methods for restoring damaged muscles in humans based on regeneration.
Cover image: Wuchthans
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