An endangered Mexican salamander that can regenerate its own brain could help end the need for hip replacement surgery in humans, a leading scientist has said.
British researchers are studying a particular sub-species of the amphibious, lizard-like creature, known as the axoloti, according to Liam Grover, a professor of biomaterials at Birmingham University. They aim to learn from how the axoloti can stimulate tissue growth to repair parts of its body including its legs and sections of its brain.
If they are able to emulate the process in humans, it could allow donated tissue to prompt the body to regenrate itself, Prof Grover added.
He told the British Science Festival, held at the university: "Rather than inserting foreign bodies into the human body, we are trying to find ways of promoting regeneration."
The axoloti has become endangered partly because Mexicans traditionally kill and cook it for food. It is nicknamed "the walking fish" because it spends is entire life under water, despite actually being an amphibian.x
