Bioelectricity Regrows Frog Tail

Scientists at Forsyth induced a frog tadpole to regrow its tail at a developmental stage when it normally would have lost that ability. The researchers used gene therapy and altered the electrical properties of cells to spur regeneration.

This study, for the first time, gave scientists a direct glimpse of the source of natural electric fields that are crucial for regeneration, as well as revealing how these are produced. In addition, the findings provide the first detailed mechanistic synthesis of bioelectrical, molecular-genetic, and cell-biological events underlying the regeneration of a complex vertebrate structure that includes skin, muscle, vasculature and critically spinal cord. Although the Xenopus (frog) tadpole sometimes has the ability to re-grow its tail, there are specific times during its development that regeneration does not take place (much as human children lose the ability to regenerate finger-tips after 7 years of age). During the Forsyth study, the activity of a yeast proton pump (which produces H+ ion flow and thus sets up regions of higher and lower pH) triggered the regeneration of the frog's tail during the normally quiescent time.

The research will appear in the April issue of Development.

Forsyth scientists make major discovery to advance regenerative medicine [Eurekalert]