Cynops pyrrhogasterWIKIMEDIA COMMONS, DOBROMILA
Adult newts retained the complete and robust ability to regenerate their eye lenses 18 times over a 16-year period, according to a study published today (July 12) in Nature Communications.
The finding counters the belief that regeneration becomes less efficient with time or repetition. It also gives hope to regenerative medicine that age may not affect regeneration ability.
“It’s very surprising that the lenses the newts regenerate look really very similar to the [original] lens,” said Brigitte Galliot, who studies hydra regeneration at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and was not involved in the research. “It’s unusual to have a study over 16 years,” she added. “It’s beautiful material.”
Regeneration studies conducted in the 1700s and 1800s noted that repeated limb amputation and regeneration ...
