NAME: Grace Fried

CLASS: 6
th
Science
DATE: 4 /24/ 14
PLANARIA LAB REPORT

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

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

THEORY:

The planaria is one of the few animals that reproduce sexually and asexually.
Most commonly planarian reproduce sexually. Flat worms, or planarian, are
hermaphrodites, so every planarian they see could be a potential mate. They
reproduce by inserting their male gonads into the other planarias genital pore. This
exchanges sperm and ensures genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is very important
because if all of the species had the same or close DNA, the species could be wiped
out with a single type of bacteria. If there is genetic diversity, planaria can pass on
bacteria resistant genes, or other things that would help the offspring survive. After
sperm is exchanged, two eggs are then fertilized inside of each planaria. Afterwards,
the planaria lays the egg, and swims away.

However, planarians can also reproduce asexually. This is rare, and only
happens when conditions are less than ideal. If there is no oxygen or food in the
water, or they simply cannot find a mate, the planarian might choose to reproduce
asexually by dropping its tail. Unlike sexual reproduction, asexual reproduction
produces a clone of the original planaria because there is only one flatworm;
therefore one set of DNA. The planaria uses its celia (hair that allows the planaria to
cling on to surfaces) to attach to something. It then tightens the muscles around its
midsection and posterior (tail). The anterior (head) and the midsection can then
swim away while the tail regenerates into a new worm.

Another thing that makes planaria so unique, is that they have a special
ability to regenerate lost body parts. Whenever a tail drops or planaria lose an
anterior or posterior, they can use totipotent cells to heal the wound and grow a
new body part. About 30% of their body is made of undifferentiated stem cells
called neoblasts. This helps them regenerate because when there is a wound, the
cells all send signals to each other telling the neoblasts to gather at a specific area.
They then form a blastima, which is a ball of cells that have the potential to become
anything that the planaria is lacking. The cells have a sense of polarity, meaning
that they know weather they need to make a new head or tail. The neoblasts then
form a pale ghost-like tissue. This new tissue grows until it completely regenerates
the missing part or heals the wound.

I hypothesized that the midsection of a planarian would regenerate first
because it already has the most important body parts. It makes sense that it would
take the other parts (tail and head) longer to replicate the important organs that the
midsection already contains.




CONCLUSION:

In this lab, we trisected a planarian to see which part would regenerate first. I
hypothesized that if trisected, the mid-section would regenerate the fastest. My data
showed that by day 4 the mid-section already started to form a new tail and part of a
head. By day 6, the mid-section of the planarian was almost completely regenerated,
as opposed to the anterior and posterior, which were barely past the stage where
the neoblasts gather to form a blastima and new pale tissue. By the ninth and last
day, the midsection was completely regenerated, even though the posterior was
close behind. The midsection had a new head and tail, complete with oracle and
ocelli, whereas the posterior had a regenerated tail, but the head was still pale. The
head wasnt even close to being done regenerating because the midsection was only
half complete and it didnt have a tail. Our groups data was consistent with other
groups in the 7
th
grade. 49% of the planaria in 7
th
grade had their midsection
regenerate first. Even our class data is consistent with the 7
th
grade (as shown in
the graph above). In the 7
th
grade, 37% of the heads regenerated first compared to
our class where 43% of planarians heads regenerated fastest (6% off). In 7
th
grade,
49% of midsections were the fastest to regenerate, whereas 50% of the planaria in
our class had their midsection regenerate first (1% off). Lastly, only 14% and 7% of
the posteriors regenerated fastest in our grade and in our class (7% off). Our class
had a somewhat accurate representation of a more complete set of data. In
conclusion, this data supports my theory that the midsection will regenerate first if
a planarian is trisected.
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Anterior Mid-Section Posterior
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2014 Regeneration Data
7th Grade
6th Period
ANALYSIS: As I have said before, our groups data and our class data was
very consistent with the 7
th
grades average data. Almost half of the seventh grade
found that the midsection regenerated fastest. I think this is due to the way that the
students trisected the planarian. Lots of the midsections were longer, and as a result,
they had less tissue to regenerate. However, some planaria were trisected
differently, with the head or tail being longer than the other parts. I think this is a
main reason for the anterior or posterior regenerating faster than other parts of the
planarian. Another main reason for varied results could be the way people took
notes and drew pictures. Since planaria are often moving it could be hard to draw an
accurate representation of tissue growth. Then, when students look back on their
work, one of the parts could have regenerated more or less than the way they drew
it. This could affect results and skew data. Another thing to keep in mind is that
living things all grow differently because of different DNA, and it is hard to get
consistent results. I think that if we did the experiment again, the size of the
trisected parts should be more uniform. We should have more time to look at
planarian and draw new growth more precisely. I also like how we didnt look at
planarian every day. Taking days off can help because it makes new growth more
obvious to the naked eye.
Humans and Planaria both have stem cells that function in similar and
different ways. Obviously, humans cannot regrow a new head or regenerate limbs.
This is due to the slightly different ways that the cells function. Human stem cells
are meant to repair or replace dead cell. This is why we cannot regenerate a whole
body part like planaria. There are pockets of niches in the human body that are used
slowly throughout our whole lives to allow the body to grow and replace dead cells.
Each cell has its own niche that falls off when there is a chemical signal for the stem
cell to differentiate. This prevents too many from going into the body. The main
reason why humans cannot regenerate is that stem cells loose their pluri-potency
early on. Other animals that have the amazing ability to regenerate keep this
throughout their whole lives. Adult or somatic cells replace humans pluri-potent
cells. Adult cells cannot grow and grow into another body part. However, planaria
can because of the pluri-potentcy of the stem cells. When there is a wound, the cells
gather and form a blastema which will regenerate into a new body part, as I
described earlier.
Scientists get their research from hES cells (embryonic cells), which is
extremely controversial. They make a zygote by combining an egg and sperm from a
donor, and monitor it while it grows in a test tube. Once it grows in to an embryo,
scientists carry out the experiment, destroying the embryo. As soon as they started
experimenting, people immediately started to protest. The government immediately
took action by limiting scientists to 70 embryos a year and ones left over with donor
consent. Scientists also found a way to make normal body cells react like embryonic
cells, ceasing protests. Scientists running experiments can also use iPS and STAP
cells instead of hES cells, but they dont act exactly the same as embryonic cells. hES
cells are ideal, but iPS and STAP cells are adequate replacements that behave
similarly.