Axial organization of the regenerating limb : asymmetrical behaviour following skin transplantation

Abstract

An extensive series of skin grafting operations has been performed to investigate axial organization in the regenerating axolotl limb. Semicircular cuffs of skin from either anterior, posterior, dorsal or ventral surfaces were exchanged between right and left limbs thereby creating limbs with double anterior, double posterior, double dorsal or double ventral skin, all with normal internal tissues. Both fore and hindlimbs were used at both upper and lower limb levels. Following amputation through the grafted region the resulting regenerates were analysed both by whole-mount cartilage staining to observe the pattern of digits and by serial sectioning to observe the pattern of muscles. There were clear asymmetries in ability to produce duplications - posterior to anterior grafts resulted in a consistently high frequency of digital duplications, whereas anterior to posterior grafts produced very few. Similarly, dorsal to ventral grafts resulted in a good frequency of muscle duplications, whereas ventral to dorsal grafts did not. Such asymmetrical behavior is not predicted by most models involving local cell:cell interactions and the significance of the results for theories of pattern formation is discussed.