Abstract
Retinoic acid (RA) and the family of molecules based on vitamin A known as retinoids have remarkable effects on limb regeneration in salamanders and newts and cause whole limb duplications in a concentration-dependent manner. They respecify all three axes of the limb—the proximodistal, the anteroposterior, and the dorsoventral axis. As a result, complete limbs can be induced to regenerate from distal amputation planes producing two limbs in tandem. Here, we describe the basic methods for undertaking these experiments as well as the use of new synthetic retinoids which have retinoic acid receptor-selective actions. These will be valuable tools in future studies on the molecular basis of limb duplications and thus our understanding of the nature of positional information in the regenerating salamander limb.
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Acknowledgments
Research concerning the activity of RAR agonists was supported by the National Science Foundation (IOS 1558017).
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Maden, M., Polvadore, T. (2023). Retinoic Acid–Induced Limb Duplications. In: Seifert, A.W., Currie, J.D. (eds) Salamanders. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2562. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2659-7_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2659-7_17
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