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. 2020 Dec;59(1):e120.
doi: 10.1002/cpmc.120.

Laboratory Maintenance and Propagation of Freshwater Planarians

Makayla R P Dean  1 , Elizabeth M Duncan  1
Affiliations

Laboratory Maintenance and Propagation of Freshwater Planarians

Makayla R P Dean et al. Curr Protoc Microbiol. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Freshwater planarians are a powerful model organism for the study of animal regeneration, stem cell maintenance and differentiation, and the development and functions of several highly conserved complex tissues. At the same time, planarians are easy to maintain, inexpensive to propagate, and reasonably macroscopic (1 mm to 1 cm in length), making them excellent organisms to use in both complex academic research and hands-on teaching laboratories. Here, we provide a detailed description of how to maintain and propagate these incredibly versatile animals in any basic laboratory setting. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Salt solution preparation Basic Protocol 2: Cleaning planarian housing Basic Protocol 3: Food preparation Basic Protocol 4: Feeding planarians Basic Protocol 5: Expansion and amplification of colony.

Keywords: Girardia; Schmidtea mediterranea; planarian; regeneration.

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Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Live images demonstrating the appearance of a healthy S.med planarian worm (left) and an unhealthy S.med planarian worm (right). The white arrowhead indicates regression of anterior head tissue; the yellow arrowhead indicates a tissue lesion.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
An example of feeding worms liver paste dyed with red food coloring. The top half of the image shows worms surrounding a pile of liver paste while already engorged worms move around the perimeter. A) A fully engorged worm. Note the slight bulge around the worm's middle and the head to tail red coloration. B) A worm that has not eaten any red liver paste. Note the consistent body width and complete lack of coloring. C) A partially engorged worm. This worm has not fully engorged itself on food, resulting in only part of the worm near the head showing color while the tail section remains a natural color.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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