Sutter Portner

Science 2
23/14
PLANARIA LAB REPORT

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

HYPOTHESIS: If trisected, then the mid section will regenerate first because it is the
longest part of the body.

THEORY:

Planaria are flatworms that have the ability to reproduce sexually or
asexually. Plaaeria are Hermaphrodites, which means they have both male and
female reproduction system. Planaria have gonads, which is the males reproductive
system and the females reproductive system. They include eggs, sperm, testis, and
ovaries. When the Planaria reproduce sexually with another parent, fertilization
happens internally and then the parents lay their eggs. The eggs usually hatch in a
week or so and the offspring/s are not clones of the parents or they are not
genetically the same. For example, the offspring/s would not inherit all of the
parents phenotypes or physical appearances.


Planaria reproduce asexually by fragmentation or tail dropping. Since
Planaria are Hermaphrodites that have the ability to reproduce with ones self. The
first way of asexual reproduction is Fragmentation. Fragmentation is when a
Planaria constricts their tail, and pulls apart. Tail Dropping is the same process, but
it can only take place in stagnate water. When a Planaria has asexually reproduction,
there are usually two separate parts, the posterior (and a little mid-section) and the
anterior (also has a little bit of the mid-section). When the Planaria breaks apart,
the totipotent cells or Neoblast travels to the exposed part of the body and turns
into Blastema. Blastema will surround the exposed part and clump together. When
Planaria reproduces the offspring/s they are clones because the parent has not
mated with another Planaria that has different chromosomes and genes.


Planaria are able to reproduce asexually through the process of regeneration.
When tail dropping, fragmentation, or a wound occurs, Planaria are able to
regenerate. Neoblast makes up 30% of the body and are stem cells or totipotent.
This means the cells are not specialized so they can help regenerate any part of the
body, and they have the potential to become anything . When Neoblast moves to the
part of the body that needs regeneration, Blastema forms around the part of the
body. Blastema is undifferentiated cells that clump together to heal a wound or
exposed part of the body. The Planaria also have Polarity, which is head or tail
orientation. Under the microscope I could not see the Blastema. it is not visible, but
some of the groups saw ghost tissues on day 3. Ghost tissues are seen after a few
days when a wound or asexual reproduction happens. After 1 day Ghost tissues
formed on the posterior end. The posterior had an indent on the top where the
incision was made and ghost tissues filled in the area that was missing. I could not
see the ghost tissues because they were transparent, but it was visible under the
microscope. On day 4 (4/9) the mid-section had formed eyes as well as the posterior.
The head on the mid-section was transparent and the shape of the head was a
triangle with curved edges. Since the head was the first to regenerate on the mid-
section so far, all the signs are saying themed-section regenerates first.

DATA:






CONCLUSION:

In this lab we trisected a Planaria into three parts to see which part would
regenerate first. I hypothesized that the mid-section would regenerate first. My data
shows by day 4 the posterior had formed ghost cells and filled in the missing part of
the body. On day 9 the Planaria formed ocelli, normal pigmentation, and the
Planaria was longer. The Planaria mid-section was also moving about the same rate
as the anterior. For period 2s data, 58% of Planaria regenerated first, which was the
biggest percentage. Only 42% of the anterior regenerated first so that means in
period 2 none of the posterior regenerated first, but in the whole 7
th
grade 14% of
the posterior regenerated, so some posterior parts did regenerate first. Out of the
whole 7
th
grade, 49% of the mid-section regenerated first and only 37% of the
anterior regenerated first. In conclusion, Planaria will regenerate when trisected
and the mid-section will be the first to regenerate because data, notes, and the
actually Planaria show my hypothesis to be correct.
0
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Anterior Mid-Section Postirior
%

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2014 Regeneration Data
2nd Period
7th Grade

ANALYSIS:

In this lab my data was valid because I knew which pieces were which, and I
observed a lot of things. The first piece to regenerate was the mid-piece. Due to my
observations, on day 4 the Planarias mid-section grew longer and on day 7 ghost
tissues were formed on both sides of the wound. My partner and I observed that the
pigmentation on the bottom part of the mid-section was normal, and a head and
ocelli were being formed. Even though the pigmentation was off, the mid-section
was the first to form fully. Compared to the 7
th
grade data 49% of the mid-section
regenerated first so almost 50% of the classes regenerated first. Even though most
of the data was accurate there was a discrepancy in the data. I noticed that at least 1
or more pieces of the posterior, regenerated first, but for period 2s data there
werent any posterior pieces that regenerated first.
Neoblast are stem cells that migrate to a wound in the Planarias body when
asexual reproduction or a wound occurs. The Stems cells main job is to replace and
repair lost cells. Stem cells are totipotent which means they have the ability to
become anything. In the human body we also have stem cells. When sexual
reproduction occurs a zygote will form. The zygote, a fertilized egg, is totipotent so it
has the potential to become anything. When the egg divides into four new eggs it is
still made up of stem cells. Eventually, the cells will start getting signals, which limits
the potential to become anything. After the Blastocyst will form in a circle like shape.
When the Blastocyst forms it is no longer totipotent and it changes to a pluripotent
cell. Inside the Blastocyst, the outline will form the placenta and the inner cell mass
will form. Inside the inner cell mass about two weeks after fertilization, the
Ectoderm, Mesoderm, and Endoderm, will later form into the skin, blood, bones, and
pancreas or liver cells. As the body grows stem cells are still present even though
many differentiated. These cells are called the Somatic or adult cells. The duties of
these cells are to help with growth, maintenance, and repair.
A lot of bickering has been going on about stem cell research, but luckily
there is less controversy over the matter. Back when scientists found out how to
inject stem cells into the body it was a great discovery, but when scientists learned
how takes out stem cells it was a breakthrough. Although this amazing discovery
was great, there was controversy over the discovery. People are stating that
scientist are killing human embryos by trying to clone the embryos and then
extracting DNA from them. Even though it can kill human embryos, stem cell
treatment has the ability to help or get rid of diseases. During stem cell therapy
scientists grow them in a lab and can change them into a certain type of cell like a
heart cell if you have heart disease or a liver cell if you have liver failure. Then
doctors inject the cells into the body where there is a disease or failure. After that
the therapy can either work of fail, but it depends on what treatment because others
can be consistent while some are not. Even though stem cell research includes some
negative things, the debate has lessened. Scientist still need these human embryos,
although many states are banning cloning. Even the government is included in this
debate. In 2001, President Bush limited funding to a study of 70 human embryonic
stem cells lines. Some stated it helped with the destruction of stem cell research
while others said it made the process slower. Overall embryonic stem cell research
is still developing, but the fight is still on to ban embryonic stem cell research.

Works Cited
"Go Go Stem Cells." Go Go Stem Cells. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014.
"The Nature of Stem Cells." The Nature of Stem Cells. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014.
"The Stem Cell Debate: Is It Over?" The Stem Cell Debate: Is It Over? N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May
2014.
"Unlocking Stem Cell Potential." Unlocking Stem Cell Potential. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014.