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Abstract
A brief account is given of renewed interest in lens regeneration in rabbits from the epithelial cells along the equator of the lens after removal of the crystalline body from the lens capsule. This interest is due to the claims by some recent investigators that better lens regeneration takes place in the presence of implanted cytolyzed fetal tissue toithin the lens capsule. However, overwhelming evidence has now accumulated to show that the presence of cytolyzing cells does not favor lens regeneration over that of normal controls. The evidence for lens regeneration after complete lentectomy is reviewed for all classes of vertebrates. After the original lens is removed from the eyes of several species of salamanders a new one regenerates from a budding process along the pupillary margin of the dorsal iris. Except for two species of fishes and one species of frog-tadpoles, lens regeneration following lentectomy has never been observed in any of the other vertebrates. Many experiments show that cells with the potential for lens regeneration in the newt eye are confined to the dorsal part of the eye and are scattered over the dorsal iris and even among the retinal pigment cells in the dorsal wall of the eye. Many experiments by the author on the eyes of adult newts are cited, dealing with the release of lens regeneration by a retinal factor and with the apparent inhibitor effect by living lens tissue.