Introduction Planaria are one of many free-living flat worms that can be found in marine, aquatic, and terrestrial environments. Certain characteristics of planaria worms include an acoelomate body, a gut with no anus, lack of a blood vascular system, and a simple nervous system. The main reason as to why planaria are subjected to many studies is because of their unique ability to regenerate. Regeneration is the ability to re-grow lost body parts that may have been cut off. This is possible because the organism has the ability to form a blastema, which is an accumulation of undifferentiated cells, at the site of the wound. Regeneration is capable of occurring at various degrees throughout the animal kingdom. This unique process would never be able to be seen in human beings. Humans and other mammals …show more content…
Planaria had cells that performed its core life functions, but additionally they had these pluripotent stem cells that provided it with an even greater advantage. It was these stem cells that allowed it to recreate whole organs that may have been lost or removed. Our laboratory group had cut number 6, and these three cuts were separated and their regeneration was analyzed and observed over approximately two weeks of time. Had this lab experiment been conducted under ideal circumstances, each and every single one of the cuts should have regenerated and developed into a mature planaria from all of the cuts. Reasons for why regeneration did not occur in our lab could have been because of the fact that the planarian were not fed on time or enough, or also that the water was not changed often or enough. Another factor that could have affected our planaria is that the planaria could have been contaminated, and thus not able to grow and develop. There could have also been faults in the environment and surroundings of the planaria in which they were
Thyroid and metabolism hormones play a large role in the daily lives of all living species. Thyroid hormones regulate the metabolism and the metabolism is responsible for maintaining a specific range for the biochemical reactions that occur in the body (Martini 2014). The most important hormone for metabolic maintenance is thyroxine (T4). This hormone also plays a large role in body heat regulation. It is produced by the pituitary gland and secreted by the thyroid gland. The thyroid releasing hormone (TRH) must trigger the thyroid stimulating hormones (TSH) to release thyroid hormones to the thyroid gland. These hormones are under control of the hypothalamus, or main neural control center. Propylthiouracil (PTU) is a medication used to treat
As the solution pH can influence the stability of NaClO-NH3 blend and the elimination of SO2, NOx, the impact of the pH of NaClO-NH3 blend solution on the instantaneous removal as well as the duration time was investigated, and the final pH after reaction was also detected and shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that the variation of solution pH has a negligible effect on the desulfurization, but the elevated pH has a great promotion on the NOx removal, the efficiencies are significantly increased from 36% to 99% for NO2 in the pH range of 5–12 and from 19% to 65% for NO when the pH is between 5 and 10, after where, both of them are constant. Hence, the optimal pH of the NaClO-NH3 solution for the
1. In response to light, phytochrome undergoes a change in shape that leads to the activation of
The scientists were hoping for the cells to divide into 100 or so cells called blastocysts. They wanted to take these blastocysts and have them grow to replace nerve, muscle and other tissues. But only one of them came to the Six-cell stage and by then it stopped dividing. They had done a similar procedure they had eggs grow without sperm to fertilize, to develop parthenogenetically into blastocysts they think that using these to procedures together they could achieve human cloning.
Flatworms belong to the phylum Platyhelminthes. They have the simplest body plan of all bilaterally symmetrical animals. They are called flatworms because their bodies are compressed. The mouth is the only opening into the digestive cavity the flatworms have. Food is taken in through this hole and wastes are discharged also through this hole. Flatworms have a well-defined nervous, muscular, excretory, and reproductive system. The flatworm distributes the food it digests through a digestive tube that branches throughout all of its body parts. The fact that the worm’s body is flat serves many purposes. It allows the worm to hid in small spaces, to fit into the opening of other animals if the worm is parasitic, and it means that all the cells are close enough to the surface for exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide with the environment (Meinkoth 399).
Planarians are free living flatworms that are members of the class Turbellaria and phylum Platyhelminthes. Most are seen in fresh water environments, while others are found in large mosses, on land, and even in salt water. They are soft bodied, leaf-shaped, and ciliated animals that have two eyes, and a pointed tail. They have a mouth on the ventral side of their body often located half way to their tail. They typically grow between three and fifteen millimeters in length, and are a gray, brown, or black color. Planarians move by swimming, and some are relatively fast. Majority of planarians are carnivorous and feed on things like protozoans, small snails, and worms. All planarians are hermaphrodites, meaning that they contain
Investigations into mediators of RA signaling led to the discovery of a cell surface molecule known as Prod 1 (da Silva, Gates, & Brockes, 2002). Prod1is upregulated in response to increases in RA signaling and is particularly important as it allows a critical signal transduction event to occur that results in necessary changes in cellular identity within the blastema (da Silva et al., 2002). There are other targets of RA signaling, which have been identified in recent years. It is the goal of this thesis to survey these other gene targets and to explore the various ways in which RA signaling governs the process of limb regeneration in organisms like A. mexicanum. Additionally, this thesis will address the practicality of understanding the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of regeneration and the state of current experimental projects aimed at utilizing this knowledge for medical
Under adverse conditions, a plasmodium may be transformed into a hard, dry, inactive mass called a sclerotium. Resistant to desiccation, it becomes a plasmodium again when favorable conditions return. In the case of the cellular slime molds, each spore released becomes a single ameba, which feeds individually until starving cells release a chemical signal that causes them to aggregate into a new pseudoplasmodium, and the process is repeated. In sexual reproduction two haploid amebas fuse, then engulf surrounding amebas, forming a single organism called a macrocyst.
Regeneration is the process of restoration, renewal, and regrowth. Some things can regrow off the cut off of the old piece, according to Richard Johnson Goss, “By such regeneration whole organisms may dramatically replace substantial portions of themselves when they have been cut in two, or may grow organs or appendages that have been lost. Not all living things regenerate parts in this manner, however” (2016). Regeneration consists of new cells that are created by own cells. With this, stem cells divide to
The Lumbricus Terrestris is the scientific term for the common Earthworm, and is otherwise known in the United States as the Nightcrawler. Earning this name due their habit of not appearing above ground to eat until the dark hours of the day, these segmented worms made up of annuli have the ability to dig six and a half feet deep into the soil. They commonly become seven to eight centimeters in length, and spend a lot of their time eating using their mouth which is located in the first segment of their body. ("National Geographic Common,") This first segment is the one located closest to the clitellum, which is the thick ring like band that demonstrates a worm is mature in growth. These worms move by taking full advantage of their small
LAB REPORT 1st Experiment done in class Introduction: Agarose gel electrophoresis separates molecules by their size, shape, and charge. Biomolecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins, are some examples. Buffered samples such as glycerol and glucose are loaded into a gel. An electrical current is placed across the gel.
Studies are frequently made in order to narrow down exactly what gives salamanders and some species of fish the ability to regenerate lost limbs. The results show that through reprogramming different cells, proliferation and...
The Cell, the fundamental structural unit of all living organisms. Some cells are complete organisms, such as the unicellular bacteria and protozoa, others, such as nerve, liver, and muscle cells, are specialized components of multicellular organisms. In another words, without cells we wouldn’t be able to live or function correctly. There are Animal Cells and Plant Cells. In Biology class the other day we studied the Animal Cell. We were split into groups of our own and we each picked a different animal cell slide to observe. My group chose the slide,'; Smeared Frog Blood ';.
There are three simple tissues namely, parenchyma, collenchyma, and sclerenchyma. Parenchyma is thought of as the ground tissue of an axis since it occurs in greatest abundance and is the tissue in which the vascular tissues are embedded. Parenchyma cells may be isodiametric in both the pith and the cortex, but are more mostly longitudinally elongated in the cortex. They have comparatively thin walls. Wall layers are continuously shaped regions. These simple pits usually occur opposite each other, forming pit-pairs in the walls of contiguous cells. Plasmodesmata (specialized strands of endoplasmic reticulum) form interconnections with the protoplasts of adjacent living cells through simple
A number of organs have the intrinsic ability to regenerate, a distinctive feature that varies among organisms. Organ regeneration is a process not fully yet understood however when its underlyning mechanism are unreveled, it holds tremendous therapeutic potential for humans. [28]