![]() ![]() ![]() Moreover, this system is likely to have important implications for the biomedicine of stem cell-derived treatments of degenerative brain disorders in human adults." "We propose planaria as a key emerging model species for mechanistic investigations of the encoding of specific memories in biological tissues. "We further show that trained, decapitated planaria exhibit evidence of memory retrieval in a savings paradigm after regenerating a new head. "We show that worms exhibit environmental familiarisation, and that this memory persists for at least 14 days - long enough for the brain to regenerate," write the authors. When given a refresher course, however, then a four-day break, they found that the worms that had originally started on the rough-textured surface were far, far quicker than the Petri-dish living flatworms. All were reluctant to go into the light, but those that had originally been living on the rough surface and had become adept at venturing into the light, seemed slightly quicker. Around 14 days later, when their heads had had time to regrow, they were all placed in a Petri dish and tested for an aversion to light once more. To follow up this find, Levin and Shomrat cut off their subjects' heads. Those on the rough textured surface appeared to get over their bright light qualms far faster than the Petri dish-living worms. The worms were filmed over ten days with tracking technology analysing and measuring which was more reluctant to go into the light. The researchers then illuminated a portion of the environment and placed a piece of liver there to see if they would seek it out. Two groups of flatworms were placed in two different environments, one with a ridged service, one with a smooth surface (a Petri dish). Knowing planarians have an aversion to bright lights, they built a scenario where they would be encouraged to go into the light for food and get used to doing so regularly. ![]() ![]() However, Levin and Shomrat believe they have overcome that with their new experimental model using video-tracking technology. According to the authors, the reason more investigations have not been made of late into its regenerative capabilities, are the difficulties associated with studying the cognition of such a basic invertebrate. ![]()
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