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To stimulate regrowth in a creature that does not naturally regenerate, such as an adult frog or human, the researchers experimented with stem cell implants or gene therapy. However, Dr. Murugan said these methods can be extremely complex to implement.
Dr. Levin suggested that an easier approach is to trigger the animal’s cells to regenerate its own body and limb.
To do this, the researchers needed to create a protected environment around the wound to prevent scarring in the early stages of tissue repair – “to convince every cell here that they’re in the ‘OK, we’re in the leg augmentation program,'” he said.
They made a wearable silicone cap called the BioDome and filled with a silk protein hydrogel. Dr. Murugan researched all commercially available drugs known to promote regeneration before settling in a quintuple mix to be loaded into the BioDome and released onto the wound.
In 2017, researchers initiated what would become an 18-month experiment. On the first day of the experiment, Annie Golding, then a graduate student, and Quang L. Pham, a researcher, created the cocktail of drugs and BioDomes. Dr. Murugan – along with a technician, Kelsie Miller, and a graduate student, Hannah Vigran – performed 13-hour surgery on 115 anesthetized female frogs.
For the next year and a half, the researchers waited patiently as the frogs ate and swam under the supervision of Erin Switzer, an aquaculture technician.
Dr. At about the four-month mark, the frogs’ limbs begin to separate depending on which of the three experimental groups they’re in, Murugan said.
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