Scientists Successfully Grow Frog's Feet In Surprising Way!

African clawed frog, regrow its legs. (photo: Murugan/Tufts University/Science Advance.)

JAKARTA - A new study has revealed that scientists have managed to regrow a missing leg in an African clawed frog, with a mixture of drugs. This is an advance in regenerative medicine.

These nearly perfect legs, able to respond to tactile stimuli and allow the frog to move and swim normally.

The African clawed frog, which is naturally unable to regenerate limbs, has regained its legs thanks to a team of scientists at Tufts University and Harvard University's Wyss Institute.

They created a five-drug mixture, and applied it through a silicone cap called the BioDome. Each drug serves a different purpose, including reducing inflammation and producing collagen to stop scar tissue from growing.

These drugs also aim to encourage the growth of new nerve fibers, blood vessels, and muscles. After taking 24 hours of treatment, the BioDome was removed and a new regeneration process started. Within the first few days, scientists noticed that the molecular pathways normally used in embryonic development had been activated.

Then over the next 18 months, the frog slowly regrows a leg that has a bone structure, internal tissue, including neurons, and toes, all of which are similar to a frog's real leg.

However, there are some differences here, frogs have no bones in the toes. Limbs have a complex structure, so growing them back isn't easy.

"It was interesting to see that the drug we chose helped create an almost complete limb. The fact that it only takes a brief exposure to the drugs to drive the regeneration process for months suggests that frogs and possibly other animals may have dormant regenerative abilities. that can be triggered into action," said Nirosha Murugan, first author of the research paper from Tufts University in Massachusetts.

The research, which has been published in the journal Science Advances, involved repeated experiments on dozens of frogs and many of those treated had near-perfect tissue regrowth, with many recreating almost fully functional feet, including bone tissue and even toe-like structures. at the ends of the limbs.

Humans have several regenerative abilities, such as hearts being able to grow back to their full size after being halved and children being able to regrow their fingertips. However, the loss of large and complex limbs cannot be reversed by any natural process in mammals.

So if humans hope to regrow their limbs someday, the way to go might be methods like this one that take advantage of the body's innate knowledge of how to build itself.

Astellas Global Regenerative Medicine head Bob Lanza, who was not involved in the study, described the progress of the findings as a remarkable achievement.

"This study has very interesting consequences for regenerative medicine. Although frogs have a much greater regenerative capacity than humans, this is a very important first step. With the right combination of drugs and factors, a similar approach has the potential to spur regeneration and restore lost function. in humans," Lanza said.