Planarian Brain and Eyes

Planarian Brain and Eyes

Samuel A. LoCascio and Kutay Deniz Atabay

MIT Department of Biology, Whitehead Institute

Planarian flatworms are animals with the amazing ability to regenerate all parts of their body by using pluripotent stem cells. These images illustrate the anatomical structure of the planarian nervous system in whole animals. All parts of the nervous system can be rapidly regenerated after any injury.

We seek to understand how nervous systems might be regenerated, repaired and rewired. Planarian flatworms complete these tasks with great precision and rapidity after any injury, making them an excellent model for this problem. These images highlight the complexity of our challenge, and the beauty of this biological system.

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