Research Organism Superheroes: Axolotls

The friendly-looking axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) doesn’t seem to have much in common with its namesake, Xolotl—the Aztec god of lightning, death, and fire. In fact, axolotls can regrow lost limbs and other body parts like organs and parts of their central nervous systems—which goes against the concept of death! The axolotl can regenerate almost any body part, including brain, heart, jaws, limbs, lungs, ovaries, spinal cord, skin, and tail. This ability makes it an excellent research organism to study in the search for regenerative medicine. Credit: Marko Pende, MDI Biological Laboratory; MDI Biological Laboratory Light Microscopy Facility; and the Murawala Lab, MDI Biological Laboratory and Hannover Medical School. In the wild, these Mexican salamanders only live in the lakes and waterways around Mexico City, Mexico, and they’ve been critically endangered for nearly 20 years because their already small natural habitat has gotten smaller, become polluted, and been overtaken by nonnatural predators. Axolotls are excellent research organisms, but the animals used in research today are genetically distinct from the natural populations that are critically endangered. These research animals have been bred in captivity for nearly 100 years (long before they were close to being endangered), with genes from a tiger salamander transferred into their genomes and only a few wild axolotls crossed into the population during that time. When researchers first began stud...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - Category: Research Authors: Tags: STEM Education Tools and Techniques Coloring Pages Cool Creatures Regeneration Research Organisms Source Type: blogs