Planarian Regeneration Mechanism Subject to Different Cut-Types
Introduction:
Planarian are flatworms which are common in aqueous regions all across the world. They are often used as models in the study of biomedical and biotech sciences, due to their ability to regenerate. Planarian have such advanced regenerative properties that over 1/279th of the animal can completely regenerate (Handberg et al., 2007). They have powerful regenerative capabilities because they have an abundance of neoblasts (stem-cells) that can divide into many types of tissues (Rink, 2013). Furthermore, planarian also contains muscle cells, which contain instructions that control neoblasts expression in different locations (Witchley et al., 2013). The presence of advanced …show more content…
However, by the second week, the bottom part of the planarian had a greater survival rate during the cross-sectional cut, the bottom and top parts of the planarian were both equally regenerated during the decapitation, the bottom part regenerated better during the oblique cut, and the top part regenerated better during the transverse cuts. The overall consensus from the experiment was that the bottom parts of planarian recovered better over two weeks when examining the cross sectional and oblique cuts, the top parts recovered better when examining the transverse cuts and both parts recovered equally during the decapitations. Whether planarian recovered better or no was based on the number of planarian that was partially and fully grown. The factor being measured is the percent of planarian that survived. In the cross sectional cut, 80% of the top and 90% of the bottom survived. In the decapitation, 100% of the top and bottom had survived. In the oblique cut, 50% of the top and 80% of the bottom survived. And in the transverse cut, 50% of the top and bottom survived. Any large discrepancy in the regeneration of those parts which survived, whether they were partially or fully regenerated, was a secondary factor used to measure the effectiveness of planarian …show more content…
The pharynx is an organ which controls both feeding and waste removal
(Reddien et al., 2005). Planarian have their mouths and their pharynx near each other (Durán et al, 2012). Since the planarian were cut from the dorsal position, it is possible that the cuts could have been placed so that the pharynx remained intact and given to a certain segment. If, for instance, during the transverse cuts, the top part of the planarian received the pharynx, then it would have the ability to capture food. That advantage would mean that as the planarian is regenerating, it could gain nutrition at a faster rate that its corresponding bottom half, which would lack the organs needed to access food.
Furthermore, it appears that planarian use brain functions and sensory information from tissues such as photoreceptors in order to find food (Inoue et al., 2015). This appears to be possible, as the brain is postal and ventral to the photoreceptor (Reddien et al., 2005). So then it would be logical to assume that in cuts types where the planarian had both the pharynx and the brain, it would have a greater ability to both seek out food and to bring it to the digestive tract. In the cross sectional and oblique cuts, if both parts of the planarian received parts of the pharynx, but only the top part has the brain that let it specifically seek out food, the it’s combination of an increased
Introduction:
Planarian are flatworms which are common in aqueous regions all across the world. They are often used as models in the study of biomedical and biotech sciences, due to their ability to regenerate. Planarian have such advanced regenerative properties that over 1/279th of the animal can completely regenerate (Handberg et al., 2007). They have powerful regenerative capabilities because they have an abundance of neoblasts (stem-cells) that can divide into many types of tissues (Rink, 2013). Furthermore, planarian also contains muscle cells, which contain instructions that control neoblasts expression in different locations (Witchley et al., 2013). The presence of advanced …show more content…
However, by the second week, the bottom part of the planarian had a greater survival rate during the cross-sectional cut, the bottom and top parts of the planarian were both equally regenerated during the decapitation, the bottom part regenerated better during the oblique cut, and the top part regenerated better during the transverse cuts. The overall consensus from the experiment was that the bottom parts of planarian recovered better over two weeks when examining the cross sectional and oblique cuts, the top parts recovered better when examining the transverse cuts and both parts recovered equally during the decapitations. Whether planarian recovered better or no was based on the number of planarian that was partially and fully grown. The factor being measured is the percent of planarian that survived. In the cross sectional cut, 80% of the top and 90% of the bottom survived. In the decapitation, 100% of the top and bottom had survived. In the oblique cut, 50% of the top and 80% of the bottom survived. And in the transverse cut, 50% of the top and bottom survived. Any large discrepancy in the regeneration of those parts which survived, whether they were partially or fully regenerated, was a secondary factor used to measure the effectiveness of planarian …show more content…
The pharynx is an organ which controls both feeding and waste removal
(Reddien et al., 2005). Planarian have their mouths and their pharynx near each other (Durán et al, 2012). Since the planarian were cut from the dorsal position, it is possible that the cuts could have been placed so that the pharynx remained intact and given to a certain segment. If, for instance, during the transverse cuts, the top part of the planarian received the pharynx, then it would have the ability to capture food. That advantage would mean that as the planarian is regenerating, it could gain nutrition at a faster rate that its corresponding bottom half, which would lack the organs needed to access food.
Furthermore, it appears that planarian use brain functions and sensory information from tissues such as photoreceptors in order to find food (Inoue et al., 2015). This appears to be possible, as the brain is postal and ventral to the photoreceptor (Reddien et al., 2005). So then it would be logical to assume that in cuts types where the planarian had both the pharynx and the brain, it would have a greater ability to both seek out food and to bring it to the digestive tract. In the cross sectional and oblique cuts, if both parts of the planarian received parts of the pharynx, but only the top part has the brain that let it specifically seek out food, the it’s combination of an increased