Lizards can grow back severed tails, making them the closest relative to people that can regrow a lost appendage. Now, for the very first time, a USC-led research study in Nature Communications describes how stem cells can assist lizards restore better tails.
Histology of a fully restored grieving gecko tail. In contrast, embryonic NSCs produce this “ventralizing” signal just in the cartilage area that ends up being the lower or ventral side of the tail. “Perfecting the imperfect regenerated lizard tail offers us with a blueprint for improving healing in wounds that dont naturally regrow, such as severed spine cords and human limbs.
These new and enhanced lizard tails display what is called “dorsoventral patterning”– meaning they have skeletal and nerve tissue on the upper or dorsal side, and cartilage tissue on the lower or forward side.
” Lizards have actually been around for more than 250 million years, and in all that time no lizard has actually ever regrown a tail with dorsoventral pattern, previously,” said Lozito. “My lab has actually created the first regenerated lizard tails with patterned skeletons.”
To achieve this, the team of researchers from the medical schools at USC and the University of Pittsburgh examined how lizard tails form during adult regeneration, compared to embryonic advancement. In both cases, neural stem cells or NSCs– the stem cells that construct the worried system– play a central role.
Adult NSCs produce a molecular signal that blocks skeletal and nerve formation and encourages cartilage growth, effectively “ventralizing” both sides of the tail. This results in the cartilage tube normal of regenerated tails.
Histology of a totally restored grieving gecko tail. Muscle is colored in white, cartilage in red, multiplying cells in green, and cell nuclei in blue. Credit: USC/Lozito Lab
Even in the lack of this ventralizing signal, adult NSCs are incapable of creating brand-new nerve tissue for the dorsal side of the tail.
In contrast, embryonic NSCs produce this “ventralizing” signal only in the cartilage area that becomes the lower or ventral side of the tail. In the absence of this signal, the upper or dorsal side establishes skeletal and nerve tissue. Thus, the tail gets the elaborate dorsoventral pattern attribute of original embryonic appendages.
If embryonic NSCs are implanted into adult tail stumps, they respond to the ventralizing signal, and fail to establish into dorsal structures.
To overcome these challenges, Lozitos group utilized gene-editing tools to make embryonic NSCs unresponsive to the ventralizing signal, and surgically implanted these cells into adult tail stumps– leading to the regeneration of perfect tails.
Histology of mourning gecko blastema. Muscle is colored in white, cartilage in red, proliferating cells in green, and cell nuclei in blue. Credit: USC/Lozito Lab
” This research study has provided us with important practice on how to improve an organisms regenerative capacity,” stated Lozito. “Perfecting the imperfect regenerated lizard tail provides us with a blueprint for improving recovery in wounds that dont naturally regrow, such as severed spine cables and human limbs. In this method, we hope our lizard research will result in medical developments for dealing with hard-to-heal injuries.”
Reference: “Introducing dorsoventral pattern in adult regenerating lizard tails with gene-edited embryonic neural stem cells” by Thomas P. Lozito, Ricardo Londono, Aaron X. Sun and Megan L. Hudnall, 14 October 2021, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-021-26321-9.
Additional co-authors consist of Ricardo Londono and Aaron X. Sun from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Megan L. Hudnall from USC.
The work was enabled by grant R01GM115444 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health.
A lizard species called a mourning gecko can restore its tail, but the replacement is an imperfect copy of the initial. Credit: USC/Lozito Lab
USC researchers experiment assists inform efforts to enhance wound-healing in people.
Lizards can regrow severed tails, making them the closest relative to humans that can regrow a lost appendage. In lieu of the initial tail that includes a back column and nerves, the replacement structure is an imperfect cartilage tube. Now, for the very first time, a USC-led research study in Nature Communications describes how stem cells can help lizards regrow better tails.
” This is one of the only cases where the regrowth of an appendage has been considerably improved through stem cell-based treatment in any bird, mammal or reptile, and it notifies efforts to improve injury recovery in people,” stated the research studys corresponding author Thomas Lozito, an assistant teacher of orthopedic surgery and stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
