Cellular and molecular processes of regeneration, with special emphasis on fish fins

The phenomenon of 'epimorphic regeneration', a complete reformation of lost tissues and organs from adult differentiated cells, has been fascinating many biologists for many years. While most vertebrate species including humans do not have a remarkable ability for regeneration, the lower vertebrates such as urodeles and fish have exceptionally high regeneration abilities. In particular, the teleost fish has a high ability to regenerate a variety of tissues and organs including scales, muscles, spinal cord and heart among vertebrate species. Hence, an understanding of the regeneration mechanism in teleosts will provide an essential knowledge base for rational approaches to tissue and organ regeneration in mammals. In the last decade, small teleost fish such as the zebrafish and medaka have emerged as powerful animal models in which a variety of developmental, genetic and molecular approaches are applicable. In addition, rapid progress in the development of genome resources such as expressed sequence tags and genome sequences has accelerated the speed of the molecular analysis of regeneration. This review summarizes the current status of our understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of regeneration, particularly that regarding fish fins.