Jackson Barry

Period 3
May 8, 2014
PLANARIA LAB REPORT

PROBLEM: If trisected, which piece of a planarian will regenerate first?

HYPOTHESIS: If trisected, then the mid section will regenerate first.

THEORY:

Planaria are flatworms that reproduce sexually. Planaria are hermaphrodites,
which means they have both the female and male gonads, enabling them to
reproduce with any other planaria. The two planaria give and receive sperm from
each other. They give each other sperm through the genital pores. The eggs develop
in the body of the planaria. After three weeks, the egg is laid in a capsule, or a shell
protecting the egg. Sexual reproduction is more desirable because it raises the
genetic diversity of the new planaria.
When conditions are less then ideal, planaria can reproduce asexually. There
are two methods of asexual reproduction including fragmentation and tail dropping.
Tail dropping happens when the flatworm attaches its tail on something, such as a
rock, and tenses its tail muscles. Then, the planaria pulls away from the rock and the
tail will come off and a new flatworm will form an exact clone of the original
planaria by regeneration. Fragmentation is the overall idea of asexual reproduction.
Planaria do not usually use asexual reproduction because the new planaria has less
of a chance to survive due to the fact that there is less genetic diversity.
Planaria reproduce asexually by regeneration. To regenerate, the planaria
use neoblasts. Neoblasts, or stem cells, make up 30% of the total cells in a planaria.
The neoblasts are totipotent cells, which means they can turn into any other cells in
the body. The neoblasts at the location of the wound then come together to form a
blastema that will differentiate into new tissues and regenerate the missing parts of
the cut planaria. A blastema is a cluster of neoblasts at the side of a wound. Planaria
are even known as immortal because they can be cut into many pieces and just
regenerate. I predicted that the mid section would regenerate because the mid
section is the longest and has the least to grow. Also, the mid section can grow both
sides at the same time, making it a faster regeneration, when the other two parts
cannot.


DATA:


CONCLUSION: In this lab we trisected a flatworm called planaria. I hypothesized
that the mid section would regenerate the fastest because it is the largest and has
the least to grow. Also, the mid section is the middle of the body, so it can grow the
anterior and posterior at the same time. My data shows by day 9 that the mid
section regenerated the fastest. The mid section was fully regenerated with ocellus
and auricles and the ghost cells were fully pigmented. Also, the mid section was the
biggest compared to the interior and posterior. 54% of the mid sections regenerated
the fastest in 3
rd
period, and 49% of the mid sections regenerated the fastest in the
7
th
grade. This is comparable to my experiment because my planarias mid section
also regenerated the fastest. In conclusion, planaria will regenerate when trisected
and the mid section will regenerate the fastest.

ANALYSIS:
Some parts of the planaria lab experiments were valid, but others werent.
First of all, it was very hard for everyone to cut the planaria in exactly the same spot.
This is a huge factor because if one person cuts their planarias posterior smaller
then the other, the bigger posterior will grow faster because it has less tissue to
grow. Also, I dont think the sketches were very reliable. I dont think the sketches
were reliable because when watching the planaria, they were moving to the edges
and they were hard to keep still. This affects the sketches because if it is difficult to
see the planaria, it is hard to draw them. I think my results were not valid for the
same reasons, but I also think my results were valid. I think my results were valid
because the mid section on my planaria grew the fastest. I think this is valid because
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Anterior
Mid Section
Posterior
23
54
23
37
49
14
%

F
I
R
S
T

R
E
G
E
N
E
R
A
T
E
D

2014 Regeneration Data
3rd Period
7th Grade
the rest of the 7
th
grade had 49% mid section regenerating the fastest and the rest of
3
rd
period had a 54% rate of the mid section regenerating the fastest.
Stem cells are cells that replace injured or dead cells in the body. The
differences in function comparing neoblasts in planaria, and human stem cells are
that planaria have totipotent cells while human stem cells are multipotent once the
human embryo is completely differentiated. The only time when human stem cells
are totipotent is in the early stage of development, the zygote through the first few
divisions. Planaria have stems cells, or neoblasts. These neoblasts are totipotent
stem cells, allowing the planaria to fully regenerate any tissue at any time. For
example if a digestive dies, then a digestive cell will be replaced. Or, if an entire tail
is cut off, then an entire tail will be replaced. Stem cells in a human are multipotent.
This means the stem cells can only regenerate tissues, and not regenerate full
ligaments. Human stem cells are found in different pockets in the body called niches.
These stem cells can only become certain tissues. For example, if a skin cell in the
body dies, then the stem cell will replace it. The similarity between stem cells in a
human and stem cells in a planaria are, both of these stem cells are undifferentiated
and have the potential to turn into to other cells and repair damaged and/or dead
cells.
At first, scientists were using hES for stem cell therapy. This type of drug
therapy is also known as, IPS, or induced pluripotent stem cells. Scientists would get
these hES from IUF clinics. After receiving the hES, the scientist would remove the
inner cell mass from the blastocyst, and put it in a petri dish to use for drug therapy.
This broke out major excitement, but also issued controversy. It is a controversy to
use IPS because people did not like that the scientists were destroying human
embryos. There is less controversy now because of the new way of drug therapy.
This is called STAP, or stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency. In order to do
this procedure, a scientist would take a differentiated cell, such as a skin cell, and
turn it back into an undifferentiated cell, or stem cell. To do this, the scientist would
take the skin cell and put it in either an acid bath, or put it through stression. This
turns the skin cell back into an undifferentiated stem cell. The scientist would then
use this newly developed stem cell and differentiate it into the needed cell. The
reason this form of stem cell therapy is less controversial is because this type of
therapy does not include taking an inner cell mass out of a blastocyst.

Bibliography:
"Learn.Genetics.utah.edu." Learn.Genetics.utah.edu. Genetic Science Learning Center, n.d.
Web. 06 May 2014.

Cyranoski, David. "Stem-cell Pioneer Banks on Future Therapies." Nature.com. Nature
Publishing Group, 7 Aug. 2012. Web. 09 May 2014.

Seifarth, Wolfgang. "Marine Flatworms of the World! - Introduction." Marine Flatworms of
the World! - Introduction. Marine Flatworms of the World, 26 Apr. 2002. Web. 09 May 2014.

"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.