The formation of muscles in regenerating limbs of the newt after denervation of the blastema

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the relationship, if any, between nerve fibers and the formation of muscle pattern in the regenerating amphibian limb. During embryogenesis, nerve fibers grow into the limb bud at the time when the common muscle blastemas subdivide into individual muscle primordia, whereas in regeneration nerve fibers are always present. In order to learn whether or not the muscle pattern could be laid down in the absence of nerves we amputated 58 limbs of newts (Notophthalmus viridescens) at the mid humeral level and allowed them to regenerate to the medium-bud or late-bud stage. The limbs were then denervated. The majority of limbs denervated at the medium-bud stage either regressed or failed to regenerate further. Regeneration after denervation failed in 9 of 25 limbs denervated at the late-bud stages. In those limbs that continued to regenerate after denervation, the formation of individual muscle primordia did occur, following the same sequence with respect to the gross stage of regeneration as innervated regenerates. In comparing these results with our previous results on the development of muscular pattern in aneurogenic limbs of the axolotl, we conclude that in neither the embryonic nor the regenerating amphibian limb are nerve fibers directly involved in the subdivision of common muscle blastemas into the primordia of individual muscles.