Following tail amputation in Xenopus tadpoles, a variety of tissue-specific stem cells proliferate and migrate into the regenerating tail to replace lost tissues. Depicted is our examination of muscle regeneration, showing regenerating tail at 72 hours post-amputation with immunostaining for Pax7-positive muscle satellite (stem) cells in white, myosin heavy chain-positive mature myocytes in red, and phospho-histone-H3-positive mitotic cells in green.
Our research shows that the Hedgehog signaling pathway is necessary for proper regeneration of a number of tissues, in particular spinal cord and muscle. Depicted are images from regenerating tadpole tails treated with either vehicle control (DMSO) or an inhibitor of Smoothened, the initial signal amplifier and primary mediator of Hedgehog signaling (vismodegib). Sox2-positive neural stem cells are in white, muscle fibers and myocytes are in green (12/101, DSHB), and phospho-histone-H3-positive mitotic cells are in red. You can clearly see impairment of both spinal cord (white) and muscle (green) regeneration with vismodegib treatment, indicating the importance of Hedgehog signaling for both tissues.
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