Planarian Flatworm Lab Report

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Francia Pierre
Lab Report # 5
Regeneration and Reproduction of Planarian Flatworms
Abstract
The focus of this lab on planaria regeneration and development. Having been taught the gradient of morphogen and there were many experiments testing this possible phenomenon of regrowth. In a planarian there is a single adult stem cell type called the neoblast. Neoblast are abundantly present throughout the body and it divides continuously. This neoblast has the ability to regenerate different cell and organ types in the planarian, from the brain, digestive system, the sensory system to even the reproductive system. With this continuous stream of continuous division of cells it allows the cells of the planarian to be rapid in self-renewal of the entire …show more content…

Also there seemed to be extra planarian grown in all of the petri dishes even in the control petri dish.
Discussion
After the week our results we had unexpected results. As shown above in Figure 2 and 3, we had ended up with more planarian than expected. In Figure 3, which was the 2nd Planarian that we cut into three pieces there were about 4 different pieces that were shown. And even in the control group, which is Figure, we had more Planarian show up then we actually put in. After doing further research, there is a possible explanation to seeing more Planarians inside these petri dishes. The most realistic explanation is that the planarian that we had acquired were the type of planarian that did both asexual and sexual reproduction (Motonori et al. 2003). Since the cut planarian had grown, they had grown asexually but with the added planarian they would have been made sexually. The only other reason would be someone adding planarians to all of the petri dishes, but that is highly unlikely. So in conclusion our hypothesis that the identically cut planaria would re grow and be identical was supported by our

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