Patterns and Cellular Mechanisms of Arm Regeneration in Adult Starfish Asterias rollestoni Bell

To understand the mechanisms of starfish regeneration, the arms of adult starfish Asterias rollestoni Bell were amputated and their regeneration patterns and cellular mechanisms were studied. It was found that cells in the outer epidermis and inner parietal peritoneum near the end of the stump began to dedifferentiate 4 d after amputation. The dedifferentiated cells in the outer epidermis proliferated,migrated to the wound site and formed a thickened pre-epidermis which would then re-differentiate gradually into ma-ture epidermis.The new parietal peritoneum formed on the coelomic side of wound might be from the curvely elongated parietal peritoneum, resulting from the dedifferentiated and proliferated cells by extension. Afterwards, the proliferated cells made the outer epidermis and inner parietal peritoneum invaginate into the interior dermis and formed blastema-like structures together with induced dedifferentiated dermal cells. Most interestingly, the arm regeneration in A. rollestoni was achieved synchronously by de novo arm-bud formation and growth, and arm-stump elongation. The crucial aspects of arm-bud formation included cell dedifferentiation, proliferation and migration, while those of arm-stump elongation included cell dedifferentiation, proliferation, invagination, and arm-wall-across blastema-like structure formation. The unique pattern and cellular mechanisms of amputated arm regeneration make it easier to understand the rapid regeneration process of adult starfish. This study may lay solid foundations for the research into mo-lecular mechanisms of echinoderm regeneration.