Cole Miller

Science
4/23/14
PLANARIA LAB REPORT

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

HYPOTHESIS: If trisected, then the Anterior will regenerate first.

THEORY:

Planaria are a type of flatworm that can reproduce sexually. They can reproduce
sexually because all planarians have both ovaries and testes. All planarians are
hermaphrodites because they have both male and female reproductive systems. A
planaria can reproduce with any other planaria because it has both reproductive
systems. The planaria is designed to have gonads in its body. All planaria exchange
sperm sexually and lay eggs externally, all of the offspring are genetically diverse.

Along with sexually reproduction planaria can also reproduce asexually. Planaria can
reproduce asexually by dropping of one or more parts of their body. Planaria can
reproduce asexually by sticking the posterior part of their body to something then using
their muscles to pull away from that part of the body. This results in having one new
planaria. After the posterior of the planaria regrows it will be a clone of the planaria that
it departed from. Most planarias reproduce asexually because conditions are less that
ideal. Planarians do not become genetically diverse when they tail drop. There are two
types of asexual reproduction; tail dropping and fragmentation. Both of these result in
having a total new clone of the planaria the tail dropped or fragmentation.

Planaria reproduce asexually by regeneration. Planaria regenerate after their tail drops.
They regenerate because they have Neoblast in their body, which can specialize to
regenerate a cut planaria. Thirty percent of the planarias cells in there body are
Neoblast. Neoblast are totipotent stem cells, which mean they can become any cell in
the planaria. The Neoblast move to the dissection and make a cluster of cells that cover
the wound, eventually they form a whole new planaria. Polarity helps the Planarias
reproduce because it orients the cells to become what is missing. Without polarity a tail
could grow another tail instead of a head. I hypothesized that the anterior would grow
back fastest. I chose the anterior because it was moving the most out of all of the three
parts.

Data:




Conclusion:


In this lab we trisected planaria to see which section would regenerate first. I
hypothesized that he anterior section would regenerate first, because it was moving
the most. My data shows by day nine the anterior section had regrown the mid section
and the posterior section in the body. The planaria had regrown all of the pigmentation
in the body and had no ghost tissue on the regrown areas. On day nine the anterior
section had fully regrown with all of the sections and parts of the body. The data shows
that 23%, or 3/13 of the planarias anterior section regenerated first in 3
rd
period. 37%, or
29/78 of the planarias anterior sections regenerated first in the seventh grade. In the
end planarias will regenerate when they are trisected and the anterior section on the
planaria will regenerate the fastest.


Analysis
The data of the 3
rd
period class and the 7
th
grade data showed that the mid section of
the planarians body regenerated the fastest. This shows that my hypothesis was
incorrect. I think that the results were very valid because the experiment was put
together in a very good way resulting in the correct numbers and data. Some things
that were difficult to control were how big people cut the planaria and how big the
planarians were in general. If everyone cut the planarians in the same places and if they
were all the same size the results would become more valid. I think some of the things
that influenced the planarians growth were if it was cut in the right place and how long
the incisions were. If the results were accurate some of the things that would account
for it would be the right length worms and the cuts in the right place with equal length
cuts.
23
54
23
37
49
14
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Anterior Mid Section Posterior
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

R
e
g
e
n
e
r
a
t
i
o
n

Fastest Regeneration
Planaria Regeneration
Period 3
7th Grade

Some of the differences between the neoblast in planaria and human stem cells
are that neoblast are totipotent and adult stem cells are pluripotent. Totipotent stem
cells can become any type of cell in body of a living thing. Pluripotent is a stem cell that
can become a differentiated cell but it can only become a few types of differentiated
cells. Some of the similarities between neoblast and human stem cells are that they are
both used to replace and repair damaged and destroyed cells by differentiating into the
needed cells. Some of the other similarities between human stem cells and neoblast are
that they can differentiate into needed cells.

There is less controversy over stem cell research now because there are new
ways to form stem cells. Earlier the only way to get stem cells was from hES (human
embryotic stem cells, when people did hES they extracted stem cells from
undifferentiated blastima cells. People decided that destroying an embryo was like
destroying a baby. However people now use IPS and STAP these new ways of
extracting stem cells are used for getting rid of diseases by inserting stem cells into the
infected place and replacing the destroyed cells. People think that these new ways of
extracting and replacing stem cells is smarter and more efficient because it is not
qualified as destroying a living thing.

Bibliography:


What Are Stem Cells? - Craig A. Kohn." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 08
May 2014.


"How Do Stem Cells Work? IPS and STAP Cells or How to Create Artificial Stem Cells
from Natural Ones." YouTube. YouTube, 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 09 May 2014.
"Human Embryonic Stem Cells." Human Embryonic Stem Cells. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May
2014.