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Published online 28 February 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news070226-8
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Electric switch could turn on limb regeneration
Tadpoles use a proton pump to direct tissue regrowth.
Tadpoles can achieve something that humans may only dream of: pull off a tadpole's thick tail or a tiny developing leg, and it'll grow right back — spinal cord, muscles, blood vessels and all. Now researchers have discovered the key regulator of the electrical signal that convinces Xenopus pollywogs to regenerate amputated tails.
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