NAME: Carl Valds

CLASS: 2
DATE
PLANARIA LAB REPORT

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

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

THEORY:

Planaria are flatworms that have the ability to reproduce sexually or
asexually. Planaria are hermaphrodites which means they can reproduce with
any other planarian because they have both male and female gonads. This
allows the planaria to reproduce with any other.

Planaria reproduce asexually by tail dropping or fragmentation. There
are two ways a planaria can asexual reproduction. This happens when a
planaria cling onto a surface and then start to pull their tails off or pull pieces
of their body apart in whats called tail dropping or fragmentation. This then
allows the severed body part to start regenerating allowing the original
planaria to reproduce.

Planaria are able to reproduce asexually through the process of
regeneration. They can do this because planaria normally have both male and
female gonads allowing them to reproduce with their copy. When a planarian
is regenerating their body uses neoblasts, which then turn into stem cells to
repair the injured area. The neoblasts are totipotent which means they can
become any type of cell when needed. Planaria can regenerate quickly
because 30% of their body is neoblasts. So thats why I think the mid section
would be the first part to regenerate

Data:
Conclusion:
In this lab we trisected a planaria to see what body part would regenerate
first. I hypothesized that the mid section would regenerate first. My data shows by
day 9 the mid section showed the most growth compared to the other body parts.
By day 9 the mid section showed more ghost tissue than the other body parts
meaning that they were able to regenerate faster. 49% 38 of 78 of mid section
pieces regenerate first compared to 37% of anterior and 14% of posterior in the
whole seventh grade. In our class 58% of mid sections regenerated 42% of anterior
and 0% of the posterior. In conclusion, planaria will regenerate when trisected and
the midsection will regenerate first thus proving my hypothesis correct.


Analysis: I believe that my results are valid because when we trisected our planaria
all the pieces were about the same length. Something that might have been hard to
control is cutting of the planaria. Other people might not have cut the planaria
evenly thus making it easier for that part of the body to regenerate quicker. Another
problem that might have been hard to control is that some people in some classes
might have lost parts of their planaria. That would be really bad for them because
they wouldnt be able to record accurately what part regenerate first.

Stem cells and neoblasts are different but yet the same, why? Stem cells and
neoblasts both have the job and repairing damaged tissue in the body. A difference
between them is that planaria, because there bodies are 20% neoblasts, can
regenerate much quicker than humans can. Another difference is that neoblasts stay
pluripotent and can become any type of cell in the organisms body unlike human
stem cells that totipotent in adulthood. Some similarities are that they both have the
purpose to heal the host and repair damaged tissue.

There is less controversy over stem cell research. There is less controversy because
people are beginning to realize how much more helpful this would be to help
0
20
40
60
80
100
Anterior
Mid Section
Posterior
42
58
0
37
49
14
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

f
i
r
s
t

r
e
g
e
n
e
r
a
t
e
d

2014 Regeneration Data
2nd Period
7th Grade
scientists research. It was really controversial because people didnt know weather
they were killing people by destroying the embryos. But now scientists have noted
that they dont know weather life starts while the embryo is developing or when
they come out the womb. So in all scientists have noted that the losses are not as
great as the benefits on what this research can do.