The cellular contributions of blastema and stump to 180 degrees supernumerary limbs in the axolotl.

By inverting triploid blastemas onto diploid stumps (and vice versa) the cellular contributions to supernumerary limbs so generated have been assessed. The four classes of 180 degrees supernumerary limbs each had a different mixture of stump and blastemal cells. The mesoderm of normal supernumeraries was composed entirely or almost entirely of stump cells and were always of stump handedness. The mesoderm of symmetrical supernumeraries was of variable composition, it could be mostly stump, mostly blastema or half and half. In part normal/part symmetrical supernumeraries the normal part was usually of stump origin and the aberrant symmetrical part of blastemal origin. In part normal/part inverted supernumeraries the normal part came from the stump and the inverted part from the inverted blastema. The handedness of each part of these supernumeraries corresponded with its cellular origin. The epidermis of the supernumeraries was not of the same relative composition as the mesoderm, it tended to have a larger stump component. The black/white marker was also used and this too tended not to conform to the mesodermal contribution patterns. These results are discussed in terms of rules for generating supernumeraries and it is concluded that with the exception of symmetrical supernumeraries the cellular contributions of stump and blastema determine their structure.