Methods for Examining Lens Regeneration in Xenopus
- 1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801;
- 2Department of Biology, Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois 62650
- ↵3Correspondence: j-henry4{at}illinois.edu
Abstract
Some vertebrates are able to regenerate the lens following its removal. This includes species in the genus Xenopus (i.e., X. laevis, X. tropicalis, and X. borealis), the only anurans known to undergo lens regeneration. In Xenopus the regenerated lens is derived de novo from cells located within the basal-most layer of the larval corneal epithelium, and is triggered by factors provided by the neural retina. In larval frogs the corneal epithelium is underlain by an endothelium separated from the corneal epithelium except for a small central attachment (i.e., the “stromal-attracting center”). This connection grows larger as the stroma forms and the frogs approach metamorphosis. Here we provide instructions for performing lentectomies (removal of the original lens) to study lens regeneration.
Footnotes
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From the Xenopus collection, edited by Hazel L. Sive.