Ability of various injuries to promote resorption of denervated, nerve independent regenerates of adult newts.

Abstract

Young blastemas of the newt resorb if the limb is denervated, and are thus called "nerve dependent". Late bud and later stage regenerates are termed "nerve independent" because, while denervation inhibits their growth, they proceed through differentiation to form a normally patterned regenerate. Schotté and Liversage ('59) found that reamputation of a denervated nerve independent regenerate causes it to resorb. The present study asked whether injuries of varying severity are equally effective at promoting resorption. Newt forelimbs were amputated through the mid-radius/ulna. At nerve independent stages, the regenerates were denervated and injured in one of a variety of ways, then monitored for signs of resorption. Reamputation of the tip or incisions which created large gaps in the wound epidermis promoted resorption in 77-90% of the cases. Histology showed that the tissue removed by tip reamputation was a small proportion of the entire regenerate, suggesting that blastema resorption is not determined simply by the number of cells directly affected by the injury. Pin prick injuries, which created small disruptions of the wound epidermis, never caused resorption. Devascularization, caused by severing the brachial artery, promoted resorption in 17% of cases. These results are not consistent with the hypothesis that avascularity is a major causative factor in nerve dependence.