Regeneration of Xenopus laevis spinal cord requires Sox2/3 expressing cells.

ABSTRACT: Spinal cord regeneration is very inefficient in humans, causing paraplegia and quadriplegia. Studying model organisms that can regenerate the spinal cord in response to injury could be useful for understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that explain why this process fails in humans. Here, we use Xenopus laevis as a model organism to study spinal cord repair. Histological and functional analyses showed that larvae at pre-metamorphic stages restore anatomical continuity of the spinal cord and recover swimming after complete spinal cord transection. These regenerative capabilities decrease with onset of metamorphosis. The ability to study regenerative and non-regenerative stages in Xenopus laevis makes it a unique model system to study regeneration. We studied the response of Sox2(

SUBMITTER: Munoz R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4826040 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature