Studying regeneration in Xenopus

Abstract

For most Xenopus embryos, life is very short. The majority of research labs working with this model organism study the processes of early vertebrate patterning and morphogenesis. And quite rightly too, since over the last two decades labs across the world have provided the fate maps, animal cap assays, expression patterns, and functional screens that put Xenopus firmly on the map as a developmental model organism. Xenopus, however, still has a lot more to offer. A new wave of interest in later developmental events has followed the development of transgenic technology, which has opened up opportunities for studying events that occur after stage 40. In this chapter, I will give a brief descriptive background of some of the different types of regeneration studied in Xenopus, and provide protocols and morphological scoring information with the aim of facilitating progress in understanding regeneration in this model system. Additionally, some particularly elegant recent examples are used to highlight the advantages of Xenopus as a model for regeneration and the future opportunities that this offers. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.