Scientists are now able to regrow frog legs. Will it pave the way for human regeneration?

A team at Tufts University and Harvard University has brought scientists a step closer to the goal of regenerative medicine by using a drug cocktail to regrow a frog’s amputated legs.

Only a few animals in the world are able to regrow some limbs: salamanders, lizards and crabs.

They do it through blastema cells, when a mass formation of stem cells occurs at the end of a stump almost immediately after the limb is lost, so the regrowth process can begin.

Frogs are like humans and mammals, however, in that they cannot regenerate complex limbs like arms or legs. Instead, our bodies, along with those of frogs, use scar tissue to protect wounds from blood loss and infection.

In a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Science Advances, scientists from the two universities wanted to see whether limbs could be regenerated on African clawed frogs with amputated legs.