Crumbling Pavlova

Meet Dinky – my gorgeous little axolotl from UK toy maker extraordinaire Jellycat. Not only is the axolotl a beautiful sea creature, it is helping pioneering medical research due to its ability to regenerate damaged tissues – truly amazing 💙

Axolotls belong to the classification of animals known as tetrapods, giving them the added advantage of sharing structures with humans, such as feet and digits. This is turn helps to make them an excellent choice when modelling for organ and limb regeneration.

There is a wonderful recent example of how axolotls can positively impact research into diabetes which focuses on their ability to regenerate pancreatic Beta cells. This pioneering research from 2022 highlights how this amazing little creature makes an excellent model for studying potential regeneration of such cells within humans – well done Dinky!

References:

ScienceDirect (2024) Tetrapod: an overview. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/tetrapod

Pernille, L et al (2022) A Novel Animal Model in Diabetes: Regeneration of β cells in the Axolotl Salamander? Available at: https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.S1.R1914