Coaxing Jellyfish, Flies, and Mice to Regenerate Body Parts

Recommendable! Amazing stuff! Impressive!

"... none of the species in the study had ever been shown to regrow limbs after certain injuries. The work suggests the ability to regenerate is somehow innate across various species and can be triggered under the right conditions. ...

Though Drosophila have never been shown to regrow limbs, the team found increased insulin and leucine in the fly food led to some regrowth in 49 percent of flies. ...
The team performed amputations below the fingernail, across the distal portion of bone, and gave the mice leucine and sugars in their drinking water. Ten percent of mice were then able to regrow at least part, and in a few cases nearly all, of the amputated digit. ..."

From the abstract:

"Can limb regeneration be induced? ... This study reports a strategy for inducing regenerative response in appendages, which works across three species that span the animal phylogeny. In Cnidaria, the frequency of appendage regeneration in the moon jellyfish Aurelia was increased by feeding with the amino acid L-leucine and the growth hormone insulin. In insects, the same strategy induced tibia regeneration in adult Drosophila. Finally, in mammals, L-leucine and sucrose administration induced digit regeneration in adult mice, including dramatically from mid-phalangeal amputation. The conserved effect of L-leucine and insulin/sugar suggests a key role for energetic parameters in regeneration induction. The simplicity by which nutrient supplementation can induce appendage regeneration provides a testable hypothesis across animals."

Coaxing Jellyfish, Flies, and Mice to Regenerate Body Parts | www.caltech.edu Caltech researchers have discovered certain conditions that enable different laboratory animals to regenerate amputated appendages. Upon consuming a diet high in sugar and an essential amino acid, three different species—the moon jellyfish Aurelia coerulea, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and common laboratory mice—all demonstrated some ability to regenerate appendages after amputation.

A conserved strategy for inducing appendage regeneration in moon jellyfish, Drosophila, and mice (no public access)