Ultrastructural analysis of early regenerating lizard tail suggests that a process of dedifferentiation is involved in the formation of the regenerative blastema

Abstract The formation of the regenerating tail blastema of lizards occurs by the multiplication of stem cells but also some dedifferentiation from adult cells may take place after tail loss by autotomy, as it is suggested in the present study. Using 5BrdU‐immunocytochemistry and transmission electron microscopy it is shown that part of the damaged tissues undergo progressive cytological de‐differentiation (cell reprogramming). This occurs for muscle, fibrocytes, chondrocytes, adipocytes, and cells derived from the spinal cord during the initial 3–8 days post‐autotomy of the tail in the wall lizard Podarcis muralis . Dedifferentiating cells loose most endoplasmic reticulum, sarcomeres in myocells, lipid droplets in adipocytes, extracellular matrix in chondrocytes. Numerous cytoplasmic vesicles are formed, perhaps reflecting an initial sufferance of dedifferentiating cells. These cells are not dying because they incorporate 5BrdU and proliferate. Nuclei of small fibrocytes present in the dermis and inter‐muscle connective tissues, initially heterochromatic, become euchromatic and their cytoplasm increases in volume although the endoplasmic reticulum remains limited, as it is typical for mesenchymal cells. The present study, supported by previous transcriptome and 5BrdU‐labeling data, and from recent tracing studies, suggests that aside stem cells present in different tissues of the tail, also cell dedifferentiation occurs in the injured tail of lizards. The relative contribution between de‐differentiation and stem cells for the formation of the regenerating lizard blastema likely depends from the extension of the trauma.