Abstract

The process of regeneration is quite common in many species. The main difference is each species' regenerative ability. Xenopus laevis is a good model to study regeneration, and throughout its life span this animal model has different regenerative capacities that vary depending on the tissue or organ. In general, the regenerative capacity of Xenopus inversely depends on metamorphosis progression, thus in larval stages the regenerative capabilities are extensive, while the closer to metamorphosis the lesser degree of regeneration is achieved. Nevertheless, there are organs or tissues that do not follow this rule and have the ability to regenerate over lifetime. So far, several regenerating systems have been studied in X. laevis including the tail, limbs, spinal cord, lens, optic nerve, neural retina, and intestine. In this chapter, we focus on neural regeneration during metamorphosis, with emphasis on spinal cord, neural retina, lens and optic nerve. In addition, a brief description is made on telencephalon and mesencephalon regeneration in Xenopus. Finally, we also include two well-studied regeneration systems, as limb and tail regeneration after amputation. Although, they are not neural regenerative systems intrinsically, both show in their process of regeneration that they have to rearrange new nerve connections in the regenerates. We describe the relationship between regeneration and nervous connections in these regenerates.