A new study reveals more about how axolotls, a type of salamander, regenerate lost limbs. Scientists had thought that primitive, undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells gave rise to the new tissue. Now, researchers show that cells at the wound site retain their identity and give rise to the same cell types in the regrown limb. In a regenerated axolotl limb, shown here, scientist used green fluorescent protein to track the origins of the new growth. GFP-labeled Schwann cells from the original limb gave rise to the GFP-labeled Schwann cells visible here, which are wrapped around non-labeled nerves.
Credit: Dunja Knapp and Elly Tanaka
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