Neoblast-enriched fraction rescues eye formation in eye-defective planarian ‘menashi’Dugesia ryukyuensis

Establishment of a new method to isolate viable x-ray-sensitive cells from planarian by fluorescence-activated cell sorting

Planarians show outstanding regenerative ability due to the proliferation of neoblasts. Hence the method to isolate planarian neoblasts is important to understand the regeneration process. In our previous study, we reported a method to isolate planarian neoblasts of Dugesia japonica using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). However, we have not yet succeeded in cultivating these cells even under in vivo conditions after transplantation into x-ray-irradiated planarians. This suggests that dissociated cells might enter apoptotic or necrotic states in the process of fluorescent dye staining and sorting. Here, we developed a new method to isolate viable neoblasts, which can proliferate in the x-ray-irradiated planarians. First, the toxicity of various fluorescence dyes was investigated. All nuclear fluorescent dyes such as Hoechst 33342, DRAQ5, and DyeCycle, showed, more or less, toxicity to mammalian culture cells. In contrast, cytoplasmic fluorescent dye for live cells, calcein AM, was less toxic on these cells. Next, we stained the dissociated planarian cells with only calcein AM, and then collected the x-ray-sensitive fraction. Although the purity of neoblasts was slightly lower than that of the original staining method (ca. 97% → ca. 89%), the sorted cells could actively proliferate when they were injected into x-ray-irradiated planarians. This simple staining and sorting method will provide new opportunities to isolate viable neoblasts and understand regenerating processes.

A Comprehensive Conceptual and Computational Dynamics Framework for Autonomous Regeneration Systems

Many biological organisms regenerate structure and function after damage. Despite the long history of research on molecular mechanisms, many questions remain about algorithms by which cells can cooperate towards the same invariant morphogenetic outcomes. Therefore, conceptual frameworks are needed not only for motivating hypotheses for advancing the understanding of regeneration processes in living organisms, but also for regenerative medicine and synthetic biology. Inspired by planarian regeneration, this study offers a novel generic conceptual framework that hypothesizes mechanisms and algorithms by which cell collectives may internally represent an anatomical target morphology towards which they build after damage. Further, the framework contributes a novel nature-inspired computing method for self-repair in engineering and robotics. Our framework, based on past in vivo and in silico studies on planaria, hypothesizes efficient novel mechanisms and algorithms to achieve complete and accurate regeneration of a simple in silico flatwormlike organism from any damage, much like the body-wide immortality of planaria, with minimal information and algorithmic complexity. This framework that extends our previous circular tissue repair model integrates two levels of organization: tissue and organism. In Level 1, three individual in silico tissues (head, body, and tail-each with a large number of tissue cells and a single stem cell at the centre) repair themselves through efficient local communications. Here, the contribution extends our circular tissue model to other shapes and invests them with tissue-wide immortality through an information field holding the minimum body plan. In Level 2, individual tissues combine to form a simple organism. Specifically, the three stem cells form a network that coordinates organism-wide regeneration with the help of Level 1. Here we contribute novel concepts for collective decision-making by stem cells for stem cell regeneration and large-scale recovery. Both levels (tissue cells and stem cells) represent networks that perform simple neural computations and form a feedback control system. With simple and limited cellular computations, our framework minimises computation and algorithmic complexity to achieve complete recovery. We report results from computer simulations of the framework to demonstrate its robustness in recovering the organism after any injury. This comprehensive hypothetical framework that significantly extends the existing biological regeneration models offers a new way to conceptualise the information-processing aspects of regeneration, which may also help design living and non-living self-repairing agents.

Analysis of Stem Cell Motility In Vivo Based on Immunodetection of Planarian Neoblasts and Tracing of BrdU-Labeled Cells After Partial Irradiation

Planarian flatworms have become an important system for the study of stem cell behavior and regulation in vivo. These organisms are able to regenerate any part of their body upon damage or amputation. A crucial cellular event in the process of planarian regeneration is the migration of pluripotent stem cells (known as neoblasts) to the site of injury. Here we describe two approaches for analyzing migration of planarian stem cells to an area where these have been ablated by localized X-ray irradiation. The first approach involves immunolabeling of mitotic neoblasts, while the second is based on tracing stem cells and their progeny after BrdU incorporation. The use of planarians in studies of cell motility is suitable for the identification of factors that influence stem cell migration in vivo and is amenable to RNA interference or pharmacological screening.

Stem cells from innate sexual but not acquired sexual planarians have the capability to form a sexual individual

Planarian species may harbor as many as three populations with different reproductive strategies. Animals from innate asexual (AS) and innate sexual (InS) populations reproduce only by fission and cross-fertilization, respectively, whereas the third population switches seasonally between the two reproductive modes. AS worms can be experimentally sexualized by feeding them with minced InS worms; we termed the resulting animals "acquired sexual" (AqS) worms. Both AqS and InS worms exhibit sexualizing activity when used as feed, suggesting that they maintain their sexual state via endogenous sexualizing substances, although the mechanisms underlying determination of reproductive strategy and sexual switching in these metazoans remain enigmatic. Therefore, we compared the endogenous sexualizing activity of InS worms and AqS worms. First, we amputated mature worms and assessed if they could re-enter a sexual state. Regenerants of InS worms, but not AqS worms, were only sexual, indicating that sexual state regulation comprises two steps: (1) autonomous initiation of sexualizing substance production and (2) maintenance of the sexual state by continuous production of sexualizing substances. Next, InS neoblasts were characterized by transplantation, finding that they successfully engrafted, proliferated, and replaced all recipient cells. Under such conditions, the AS recipients of InS worm neoblasts, but not those of AqS worms, became sexual. These results clearly show that there is a neoblast-autonomous determination of reproductive strategy in planarians.

Reproductive mode and ovarian morphology regulation in chimeric planarians composed of asexual and sexual neoblasts

Planarians are comprised of populations with different reproductive strategies: exclusively innately asexual (AS), exclusively innately sexual (InS), and seasonally switching. AS worms can be sexualized experimentally by feeding them with minced InS worms, and the resultant worms are characterized as acquired sexual (AqS). Differences between InS and AqS worms are expected to provide important clues to the poorly understood mechanism underlying the regulation of their reproductive mode. Morphological differences were found between InS and AqS worm ovaries, and we showed that the pluripotent stem cells (neoblasts) from InS worms, but not those of AqS worms, have the capacity to initiate the sexual state autonomously via neoblast fraction transplantation. To compare their reproductive mode and ovarian morphology regulation, InS donor neoblast fractions were transplanted into non-lethally X-ray-irradiated AS recipients. All transplants showed stable chimerism and reproduced sexually, suggesting that InS worm neoblasts can initiate sexual state autonomously, even when coexisting with AS worm neoblasts. The chimeras formed extraordinarily large and supernumerary ovaries equivalent to AqS worms, which were not seen in InS worms, suggesting that regulation of ovarian morphology in AS worm-derived cells in response to endogenous sexualizing stimulation distinctly differs from that of InS worms.

Cellular and molecular dissection of pluripotent adult somatic stem cells in planarians

Freshwater planarians, Plathelminthes, have been an intriguing model animal of regeneration studies for more than 100 years. Their robust regenerative ability is one of asexual reproductive capacity, in which complete animals develop from tiny body fragments within a week. Pluripotent adult somatic stem cells, called neoblasts, assure this regenerative ability. Neoblasts give rise to not only all types of somatic cells, but also germline cells. During the last decade, several experimental techniques for the analysis of planarian neoblasts at the molecular level, such as in situ hybridization, RNAi and fluorescence activated cell sorting, have been established. Moreover, information about genes involved in maintenance and differentiation of neoblasts has been accumulated. One of the molecular features of neoblasts is the expression of many RNA regulators, which are involved in germline development in other animals, such as vasa and piwi family genes. In this review, we introduce physiological and molecular features of the neoblast, and discuss how germline genes regulate planarian neoblasts and what differences exist between neoblasts and germline cells.

Potential of Macrostomum lignano to recover from gamma-ray irradiation

Stem cells are the only proliferating cells in flatworms and can be eliminated by irradiation with no damage to differentiated cells. We investigated the effect of fractionated irradiation schemes on Macrostomum lignano, namely, on survival, gene expression, morphology and regeneration. Proliferating cells were almost undetectable during the first week post-treatment. Cell proliferation and gene expression were restored within 1 month in a dose-dependent manner following exposure to up to 150 Gy irradiation. During recovery, stem cells did not cross the midline but were restricted within lateral compartments. An accumulated dose of 210 Gy resulted in a lethal phenotype. Our findings demonstrate that M. lignano represents a suitable model system for elucidating the effect of irradiation on the stem cell system in flatworms and for improving our understanding of the recovery potential of severely damaged stem-cell systems.