Mallory

Hogan
Science 6
April 22nd, 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. All Planaria are

hermaphrodites, which means they have both male and female gonads. This
means that they all are born with ovaries and testes. When producing sexually,
each Planarian must find a partner to exchange genes through sperm being
planted in the egg, which is internal fertilization. The Planarian then lays the
egg and swims away. The eggs genes are different from the parents and will
have ensured genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is important because it helps
the species develop and adapt with its environment.

When conditions are less than ideal, Planaria are able to reproduce

asexually. When there is stagnant water, lack of food, or lack of mates, a

Planaria will reproduce asexually. Planaria can do this by tail dropping,
which is when they drop their tail, or posterior piece of their body. The tail
will then start the process of regeneration. Regeneration involves the stem
cells called neoblasts. Neoblasts make up about 30% of a Planarians cells.
Neoblasts are the key part to regenerating asexually. This produces a set of
cloned genes to the asexual reproduced offspring.

Planaria can reproduce asexually through the process of regeneration.

Planarias stem cells called neoblasts migrate to the wound. These neoblasts
are totipotent, which means they have potential to become anything such as,
the oscelies, or the nerve cells. These totipotent cells form a cluster called a
blastema which has a head/tail orientation called polarity. The neoblasts form

Hogan, Mallory

Friday, May 9, 2014 10:46:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time

70:56:81:b0:0a:8d

ghost cells (unpigmennted cells) to replace what is missing. During neoblast

division, for each neoblast that is produced, a specialized cell is also produced.
With this process, the planarian has a clone set of genes from the original
planarian that's tail was dropped from. However, it may develop different
phenotypes depending on the conditions it lives in (malnourishment, etc.).
Knowing this information, I hypothesized that the mid section of the planarian
would regenerate first. I believe this because instead of just one blastema
being formed during regeneration, two are formed. I thought this would
advance the planarians growth significantly.

2014 Regeneration Chart

%
F
i
rs
t
R
e
g
e
n
e
ar
t
e
d

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

43

50 49

6th Period

37

7th Grade
7

Anterior

Mid Section

14

Posterior

Conclusion:

In this lab trisected a planarian to test which piece would regenerate

first. I hypothesized that the mid section would regenerate first. My data
shows by day that the mid section made the most progress each day. There
were ghost cells on each piece on the first 2 days. The anterior piece moved
the most for the whole time period, and was considered the smallest piece
with the least amount of progress. The posterior did not move a lot, but made

Hogan, Mallory

Friday, May 9, 2014 10:46:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time

70:56:81:b0:0a:8d

slow progress in regenerating. The mid section regenerated at a significant

rate. It had grown a tail by day 4, and by day 9, it had ocelies and had fully
regenerated. 49% 38 of 78 mid section pieces regenerated first in the 7th
grade, and 50% 7 of 14 regenerated first in our class period. Of the pieces, the
majority that regenerated first was the mid section. Only 7% 1 of 14 posterior
pieces regenerated first in period 6, and 14% 11 of 78 anterior pieces
regenerated first. In conclusion, planaria will regenerate when trisected and
the mid section will regenerate first. My hypothesis was correct.

Analysis:

After analyzing the data, our group realized that our results were valid.
However, our groups planarian died on day 4 of the lab due to a contaminated
scalpel. We then switched groups and followed the progress of their planarian.
Luckily, their planarian had similar progress to our planarian. After switching,
we accurately sketched each piece of the planarian every day and carefully
analyzed the planarians growth. It was difficult to keep track of each
planarian piece. It was also difficult to analyze the pieces under the
microscope because of their movement. Some changes that I would do to this
lab to improve its accuracy, would be to put each trisected planarian piece in a
different dish. Also, I would make a more sterile way of transferring the
planarian from each dish. For example, I would create a station of supplies, a
cleaning station, and a special table to transfer the planaria. My observations
on day 3 and 4 influenced my hypothesis because of the mid sections
movement and rapid growth.

Hogan, Mallory

Friday, May 9, 2014 10:46:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time

70:56:81:b0:0a:8d

The differences in the functions of neoblasts in planaria and human stem cells
include that neoblasts are totipotent, meaning that they can become any cell
type. In contrast, adult stem cells are multi-potent, which means that they are
limited to differentiating into different cell types of their tissue of origin (in
the bone marrow, blood vessels, etc.). However, these cells share many
similarities such as that both cell types do have potential to become many
different things. They also both receive signals to turn on the genes to replace
or repair something in the body. The main functions of stem cells are to
replace and repair damaged or missing cells. For example, a fertilized egg
becomes a totipotent zygote. Stem cells help the planaria fully regenerate
from reproducing asexually, or when they need to regenerate. Human multi-
potent stem cells help repair different parts of the body depending on its
niche. Stem cell populations in the body live in stem cell niches, each different
type of stem cell with its own niche. Stem cells are located in the brain, bone
marrow, blood, blood vessels, muscles, and liver. The niche supplies the
necessary environment and many of the cues that direct stem cell activity, and
this is why changes in the niche are possibly more important than changes in
stem cells themselves when it comes to the decline of stem cell activity.


In order to harvest embryonic stem cells, scientists must create and destroy
an embryo. Embryos are undeveloped human beings and given the correct
environment will grow up to become a healthy baby. Some argue that embryos
have a right to live, rather than being destroyed in research. Because of this
some have been reluctant to fund research in this topic. However, now there is
less controversy because the goal of stem cell research is to find a way for the
stem cell to differentiate in order to repair the specific patient's problem-
whether that is a spinal cord injury, genetic disease, diabetes, etc. Induced
pluripotent stem cells (IPS) are adult cells that have been genetically
reprogrammed to an embryonic stem celllike state by being forced to express
genes and factors important for maintaining the defining properties of

Hogan, Mallory

Friday, May 9, 2014 10:46:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time

70:56:81:b0:0a:8d

embryonic stem cells. However, Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent so this
means they can become more than adult stem cells. Also, (stimulus-triggered
acquisition of pluripotency) cells can produce not only to any type of cell in

the body, but also cells in the placenta, which IPS cells cannot do. Also,
Researchers can use hES cells to produce specialized cells like nerve or heart
cells in the lab. These specialized cells can be studied in detail to understand
more about the causes and development of diseases. Scientists are saying that
these stem cells are helping to develop therapies where stem cells are first
induced to differentiate into specified cells, and then transplanted into
patients with damaged or dysfunctional tissues.

Hogan, Mallory

Friday, May 9, 2014 10:46:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time

70:56:81:b0:0a:8d

Bibliography
"Emigration." Emigration. Westmister College, n.d. Web. 08 May 2014.

"Integrative and Comparative Biology." Switch from Asexual to Sexual Reproduction in
the Planarian Dugesia Ryukyuensis. Oxford University, n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.


"Stem Cells and Their Niches." Stem Cells and Their Niches. Science Magazine, n.d.
Web. 09 May 2014.


"The Stem Cell Debate: Is It Over?" The Stem Cell Debate: Is It Over? Learn Genetics,
n.d. Web. 07 May 2014.

Hogan, Mallory

Friday, May 9, 2014 10:46:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time

70:56:81:b0:0a:8d