The relation between nerve fiber number and limb regenerative capacity in the lizard,Anolis

✍ Scribed by Zika, Jocelyn ;Singer, Marcus

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1965
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 292 KB
• Volume: 152
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-276X
• DOI: 10.1002/ar.1091520204

✦ Synopsis

The present work provides some quantitative evidence for the view that the inability of the lizard's limb to regenerate is due to an insufficiency of nerve fibers. The number of fibers per unit area of the amputation surface of the lizard's forelimb is approximately one-half that reported for the limb of the salamander, capable of regeneration. It is known that when the number of fibers in the salamander's limb is reduced to about half its normal value, regeneration does not occur in about 50% of the animals. The possibility is also discussed that the lizard's limb, in addition to being less innervated than that of the salamander, is also more refractory in its growth response to the nerve. Finally, the comparative poverty of innervation of the lizard's limb relative to that of the salamander suggests that the evolutionary trend in the vertebrate series toward elaboration of central nervous mechanisms was accompanied by a decline in richness of peripheral innervation.