The histogenesis of muscle in the regenerating fore limb of larval Amblystoma punctatum

The regeneration of muscle in larval Amblystoma punctatum is preceded by an extensive dedifferentiation of the old muscles of the limb stump. The process of muscle dedifferentiation consists in a separation of muscle nuclei, surrounded by a small amount of cytoplasm, from the injured ends of the muscle fibers. The dedifferentiation of the cut muscles of the limb stump progresses proximad as far as the origin of the muscles on the humerus and results in a complete transformation of these muscles into undifferentiated cells which appear to contribute to the formation of the regeneration blastema. Shoulder muscles, which were attached to the humerus, also undergo a partial dedifferentiation when their points of insertion on the humerus are destroyed by the degeneration of the perichondrium. These muscles never dedifferentiate, however, for more than one‐fourth their original length. The process of dedifferentiation in the shoulder muscles is similar to that found in the cut muscles of the limb stump. The regeneration of the injured muscles occurs in two ways. The shoulder muscles reconstitute themselves by means of terminal and lateral sarcoplasmic buds formed near the distal regions of the muscle fibers. The muscles of the limb proper, distal to the shoulder, differentiate out of local aggregations of blastema cells. No myoblasts were observed. The regeneration blastema arose chiefly from dedifferentiated cells of muscle, nerve connective tissue sheath, perichondrium and cartilage.