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The effect of replacing different regions of limb skin with head skin on regeneration in the axolotl

Department of Anatomy and Human Biology, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK

* Present address: Department of Anatomy, University of Aberdeen, Marischal College, Aberdeen, UK.

Accepted 18 July 1986

SUMMARY

Head skin was used to replace different halves of limb skin from the upper and lower arms of axolotls. Replacement of upper arm posterior skin caused the regeneration of a high proportion of single-digit limbs while replacement of dorsal, ventral or anterior skin caused only minor defects to the normal skeletal pattern. When dorsal or ventral skin was replaced, however, regenerates often lacked dorsal or ventral muscle. Results from the lower arm were different in that replacement of any half of limb skin failed to cause defects either in the skeletal or muscular pattern. These results are used in conjunction with previous work (Wigmore & Holder, 1985; Wigmore, 1986) to suggest that posterior skin is essential for regeneration of the anteroposterior axis and dorsal and ventral skin is necessary for the differentiation of the muscle pattern in regenerates from the upper arm. In the lower arm no localized region of skin appears to be essential for regeneration of the normal pattern and the patterning mechanism may have a different spatial organization.

Key words: axolotl, regeneration, limb, skin, muscle, pattern, Ambystoma mexicanum