1. S
Tomomi Shore, Shawn Cyran
Biomedicine Program, Academies@Englewood
March 5, 2015

2. What is a planarian?• Classified in the
Platyhelminthes
phylum or “flat worms”
• Carnivores
• No anus and eats
using pharynx in
middle of its body
• Has central nervous
system
Flat worm with ability to regenerate

3. What is a planarian?
Continued
• Sexually reproduce and asexually reproduce through
division
• Hypotheses for regeneration:
• Epimorphosis- neoblasts
• Morphallaxis- morphogens give instructions
• Polar Coordinate model- molecules act as “zip code”

4. S Retinoids (found in animals) and carotenoids (found
in plants) are two subgroups of vitamin A group.
S Retinoids provide immune, inflammatory, genetic,
and reproductive benefits and are important to cell
growth and embryonic development.
Retinol

5. Purpose/Hypothesis
S Since Vitamin A is essential to growth and
maintenance of the body, we studied the effects of
foods with varying amounts of vitamin A on
Planarian regeneration.
S We hypothesized that Planarians fed greater
amounts of vitamin A would show greater
regeneration compared to others fed less.

6. Vitamin A Retinoid Found in
Foods
Food Vitamin A per 100g
Chicken Breast 50 IU
Egg Yolk 1,442 IU
Beef Liver 53,400 IU
Turkey Liver 72,350 IU
S We predicted that turkey liver would have the greatest
growth while chicken breast would have the least
because turkey liver has the most vitamin A, and chicken
breast has the least.

7. Methods
Feed
planarians
designated
food one
week
before
amputation
Place
(using
pipette)
Planarian
on ice
mount for
40-80
seconds
Put
Planarian
on coffee
filter on
petri dish
to
surgically
amputate
the head
Remove
coffee filter,
place
graph
paper
under petri
dish

8. Before After
Head
Body
Pictures

9. Results: Head Pieces Growth
Food Day 0 Day 1 Day 5 Day 6 Day 12
Turkey
Liver
0 0.15833
3333
1.43333
3333
1.65 1.93333
333
Beef
Liver
0 0.11666
6667
0.66666
6667
0.76666
6667
1.38666
6667
Egg Yolk 0 0 0.73333
333
0.93333
333
1.33333
33
Chicken
Breast
0 0.25333
3333
1 1.01666
6667
1.2

10. Food Day 0 Day 1 Day 5 Day 6
Turkey
Liver
0 0.116666
667
1.916666
667
2.3
Beef
Liver
0 0.063333
333
1.283333
33
1.283333
33
Egg Yolk 0 0.173333
33
0.84 1.79
Chicken
Breast
0 0.1 0.716666
66
1.12
Results: Body Pieces Growth

11. Graphs: Heads Growth
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Day 0 Day 1 Day 5 Day 6 Day 12
Turkey Liver
Beef Liver
Egg Yolk
Chicken Breast

12. Graphs: Bodies Growth
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Day 0 Day 1 Day 5 Day 6
Turkey Liver
Beef Liver
Egg Yolk
Chicken Breast

13. Analysis
S In both the heads and bodies, the turkey liver groups
had the greatest total growth compared to the
others.
S In both the heads and bodies, the chicken breast
groups had the least total growth compared to the
others.
S The beef liver had a greater total growth compared
to the egg yolk in heads, but egg yolk was greater
than beef liver in bodies. This slight variation shows
that these amounts of vitamin A were not large
enough to show any noticeable differences.

14. Conclusion
S Results confirm hypothesis
S As we predicted, we found that the group of
Planarians fed turkey liver grew the most and
the Planarians fed chicken breast grew the least.

15. Acknowledgements