Flatworm Regeneration (IMAGE)

Tufts University

Flatworm Regeneration

Caption

After being treated with an inhibitor of electrical synapses, about 25 percent of wild-type (WT) flatworms regenerated into double-headed forms (DH), while 72 percent regenerated as seemingly normal one-headed worms (CRPT). But further analysis showed that the normal-appearing flatworms in fact contained a hidden, double-headed pattern memory stored in a bioelectric network that causes fragments to continue to reproduce at the same 25/72 percent ratio when cut in plain water in subsequent rounds of regeneration.

Credit

Fallon Durant, Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University

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