M: REGENERATION LAB

PROBLEM: Which part of the planarian will regenerate first when trisected, anterior,
posterior or mid section?

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

THEORY:

1. Look at the anatomy of the planarian. What reproductive parts does a
planaria have? Testis, sperm duct, seminal vesicle, penis, ovary, oviduct, yolk
gland, vagina, and copulatory sac.


Describe sexual reproduction. Where are the eggs fertilized? The ovaries.
What happens to the fertilized eggs? They are encased in a sticky coating. Do
they hatch internally or externally? Externally

Are the offspring clones of the parents or do they contain genes from both
parents? They contain genes from both parents


2. What is asexual reproduction? When the environment is undesirable they
will tail drop and produce 2 planarian. Are the offspring clones (exactly like
its parent) yes it is because it has the same genes that the original had.




3. Regeneration: What is a neoblast? A non-specialized cell.


What % of neoblast do planaria contain? 30%


How do neoblast help the planaria replace missing parts of their bodies?
They recreate the body parts that the planarian is missing. The neoblast is a
undifferentiated stem cell, this is what allows for repair of any aspect of the
system.


4. Explain why you thought the mid section would regenerate first? The mid
section still has a system to digest food, which could provide it with more
nutrients/energy to create new cells.



Graphs:


M: CONCLUSION

1. What were you investigating?
What part of the planaria would regenerate first






2. What was your hypothesis?
The midsection would regenerate first because it still has the ability to eat and
digest food, which will provide it with the proper nutrients to regenerate faster.





3. What happened to your planaria?
After 6 days the anterior, midsection, and posterior of the planarian regenerated.
The results showed that all the sections regenerated at the same rate.






Anterior Mid Section Posterior
4th Period 58 30 8
7th Grade 44 44 12
58
30
8
44 44
12
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%

F
i
r
s
t

R
e
g
e
n
e
r
a
t
e
d

Planaria Regeneration Data
4th Period
7th Grade
4. How many total planaria lived? 3
5. How many anterior pieces lived? 1
6. How many posterior pieces lived? 1
7. How many mid sections lived? 1
8. How many anterior pieces were completely regenerated? 1
9. How many posterior pieces were completely regenerated? 1
10. How many mid section pieces were completely regenerated? 1


In conclusion planaria will regenerate when trisected.

M EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS:

1. Describe what went well in this lab?
The planaria fully regenerated by the end of the lab.
The anterior midsection and posterior didnt die during the process.







2. What did not go well with this lab?
It was hard to monitor the growth of the planaria because at the end we did not
know what piece regenerated first. This could be fixed by daily monitoring instead
of just monitoring some days.


3. What did you learn about regeneration in planaria?
Planaria have a percentage of about 30% of neoblasts in their bodies. When
trisected these neoblasts went directly to the cut and started to develop the
other body parts that were missing. After a period of 6 days the planarian
were fully regenerated.



4. What did you learn about human stem cells?
That these stem cells are turned into adult stem cells or specialized cells. Scientists
have found that when you stress these cells they will turn back into stem cells.
These stem cells are being used to treat different problems in humans including
heart diseases and even kidney problems.




5. What are the goals of stem cell research?
The goals of stem cell research are to find cures to different problems with the body.
To be able to know how to recreate the cells or use them in other helpful ways. The
research is also to create replacement organs that are exact copies of the same
organ except healthy and still have the ability to work at the same rate as a regular
one.