NAME: Daisy Dalzell-Piper

CLASS: Science 7
DATE: April 7
th
2014
PLANARIA LAB REPORT

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

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

THEORY:

Planaria are among the many organisms that reproduce sexually. All planaria
are hermaphrodites, so any two planaria can come together and reproduce sexual.
They exchange gonads through the genital pore to fertilize each others eggs. They
then separate and lay their own fertilized eggs in shallow water. The eggs then hatch
in about 3 weeks and the offspring can reproduce sexual to continue the cycle.

When conditions are less then ideal planaria have the ability to reproduce
asexually. One example of this is tail dropping. When planarian tail drop, the head
will keep swimming while the tail grasps onto something and is left behind. If all
goes correctly the head will break off and you will be left with a head and a tail. Each
piece will grow new body parts and the two new worms that grow will be
genetically identical to each other.

Planaria are able to reproduce asexually through the process of regeneration.
30% of a planarians body is made up of neoblasts, which are stem cells. Neoblasts
are totipotent meaning they have the ability to become any cell in the body. When
the planaria tail drop, the neoblasts migrate to the wounds of the polarity, this is an
example of blastema. The wounds then grow new tissue and the planaria
eventually grows new body parts to make a whole new planaria. I hypothesized that
the interior of the planaria would regenerate the fastest because it already has the
oscelli and auricles, so the interior wouldnt take as long to regenerate.















DATA:


CONCLUSION:

In this lab, we trisected a planaria. I hypothesized the interior piece would
regenerate the fastest. My data shows by day 9, the interior was already moving
around and had its own tail. The mid section and the posterior didnt even have any
auricles or oscelli yet. This shows that the interior had already turned into its own
worm when the mid section and posterior hadnt even started growing a head. 50%
of my class (7
th
period) had the interior regenerate the fastest when only 43% had
the mid section grow back the fastest. This data is not similar to the whole 7
th
grades
data because the average for that was 49% had the mid section grow back the
fastest when only 37% had the anterior grow back the fastest. The posterior for
both 7
th
period and 7
th
grade had low percentages of 7% and 14%. In conclusion, my
hypothesis was 100% correct based on my observations, although it was incorrect
compared to the majority of the data.

ANALYSIS:

For this lab, I think my results are valid because I kept accurate records of
the growth of my planaria almost every day. 50% of my class (7
th
period) had the
anterior regenerate the fastest; this shows that my results were accurate. It was
difficult to tell which piece was the mid section and which piece was the posterior
because neither of them had a head, so if I were to do this experiment again, I would
get the petri dishes that have little sections so I could keep the mid section and the
posterior separate. It was also not a good idea to use the brushes as a way to
transport the planaria because it was common for them to get lost in the brush. It
would have been a better idea to use a small spoon. If we made these changes the
experiment would be more valid and so would be the outcome.

50
43
7
37
49
14
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Anterior Mid Section Posterior
%

F
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2014 Regeneration Data
7th Period
7th Grade
There are many similarities and differences between neoblasts in planaria
and human stem cells. When a planaria is trisected, the neoblasts migrate to the
wound to replace the missing tissue. They are similar because Stem cells also
replace missing pieces when needed. One difference is that the embryotic stem cells
are totipotent when the adult stem cells are multipotent meaning not all stem cells
can replace any missing piece of the body. On the other hand, all neoblasts can
replace any part of the planaria. Another difference is that stem cells have a stem
cell niche that protects and maintains the stem cell when neoblasts dont. In a
nutshell, Neoblasts in planaria and stem cells in humans both have the same
potential, but have a few slight differences.

There is less controversy now over stem cell research for a few different
reasons. The only way to get pluripotent stem cells for research is to remove the
inner mass of the embryo. People were asking themselves questions like: is a human
embryo equivalent to a human child and does a human embryo have any right. The
thought of killing an embryo was wrong to some people and that is what started the
main debate. This debate might actually be coming to an end due to newer
breakthroughs and new alternatives to hES cells. Scientist learned how to stimulate
an individuals own cell to perform like embryotic stem cells. hES cells and iPS cells
are both pluripotent. While hES cells are isolated from an embryo, induced
pluripotent stem cells (iPS) can be made from adult cells. With all these
breakthroughs in technology, the stem cell debate might be coming to an end.