title: Lens regenerates by means of similar processes and timeline in adults and larvae of the newt Cynops pyrrhogaster.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is widely accepted that juvenile animals can regenerate faster than adults. For example, in the case of lens regeneration of the newt Cynops pyrrhogaster, larvae and adults require approximately 30 and 80 days for completion of lens regeneration, respectively. However, when we carefully observed lens regeneration in C. pyrrhogaster at the cellular level using molecular markers in the present study, we found that lens regeneration during the larval stage proceeded at similar speed and by means of similar steps to those in adults.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We could not find any drastic difference between regeneration at these two stages, except that the size of the eyes was very different.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our observations suggested that larvae could regenerate a lens of the original size within a shorter time than adults because the larval lens was smaller than the adult lens, but the speed of regeneration was not faster in larvae. In addition, by repeatedly observing the regeneration in one individual transgenic newt that expressed fluorescence specifically in lens fiber cells in vivo and comparing the regeneration process at the embryonic, larval, and postmetamorphosis stages, we confirmed that the regeneration speed was the same at each of these stages in the same individual.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. inoue@mdb.biophys.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Rio
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.forename: Kikuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Urata
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Michibayashi
authors.forename: Shota
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takemura
authors.forename: Kiyokazu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Agata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009929:Organ Size; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D012455:Salamandridae / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors