Jumpstarting Legs

Humans regrowing lost limbs is a medical marvel confined to the realms of science fiction. Scientists trying to make that far-off fiction a contemporary reality investigated what's needed to kickstart the body’s latent growth abilities, by treating wounded frogs with a multi-drug combination applied directly to an amputated limb via a wearable cover for 24 hours. Each chemical aided a different aspect, encouraging growth or preventing typical scarring or inflammation responses. The African clawed frog can't naturally regenerate limbs, so is a promising model for human limb regrowth. Over 18 months following the treatment, the leg regrew (pictured during post-experiment examination of the nerve and tissue structure), responding to stimuli and being used for swimming. The next step is to tweak the cocktail to encourage even more functional and complete limbs, then see if similar pathways can be stimulated in mammals, ultimately helping millions of patients who have lost limbs.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by Nirosha Murugan and colleagues, Levin Lab, Tufts University - on the cover of Science Advances
• Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Published in Science Advances, January 2022