Frogs regrow amputated limbs in lab. Can it promise a future beyond prosthetics for humans?

Taking inspiration from the natural ability to regrow a limb by some creatures like lizards and starfish, scientists are working on how the same can be implemented in the lab that can help millions of people who lost their limb(s).

Although there have been advancements in technology like prosthetics, but doctors are probing various ways to induce human limb regeneration.

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In a new study published on Wednesday (January 26) in the journal Science Advances, a group of scientists informed that they were able to trigger the regrowth of legs in adult frogs.

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US-based scientist Michael Levin and his colleagues said that they have witnessed the regrowth of an amputated leg in a type of African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). They described the process as a "step closer to the goal of regenerative medicine."

A part of the study read: "We developed a complex intervention for adultXenopushind-leg amputations to address several key open aspects of the limb regeneration roadmap."

During the process, the scientists used a combination of a five-drug cocktail and a silicone wearable bioreactor called 'BioDome' to attain control over the local microenvironment of a wound in vivo. The scientists revealed that the cocktail was only applied for 24 hours. After 18 months, the limb was almost fully functional.

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In addition to that, they sought to use compounds that could trigger a sustainable, endogenous morphogenetic cascade without subsequent intervention or continuous micromanagement by choosing a variety of compounds.

As per the study, thefrogs were able to swim and respond to touch and they also grew several toes but not the webbing between them.

Levin said as quoted by NBC News: "This makes me very happy because if this is our first guess and it’s this good, imagine what the optimized version is going to look like in the future."

An associate professor named James Monaghan in the department of biology at Northeastern University, who was not involved in the research called the results "impressive" and "exciting".

As quoted by CNN, he said, "Xenopus frogs are somewhere in between a salamander that regrows a limb nearly perfectly and a mammal that generates a scar after amputation. Adult Xenopus frogs regenerate a spike after amputation, but the spike lacks any pattern like a limb."