Protocol for Maintaining a Colony of Schmidtea Mediterranea

Abstract

The planarian model is becoming an increasingly recognized model for tissue regeneration and embryonic development. In time, it is hoped that the investigation of the mechanisms of planarian tissue regeneration will provide a simple pathway by which complex patterns of tissue can be formed from very few stem cells. This has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of problems with early embryonic development, and because the planarian has no problem regenerating its entire central nervous system, it could also potentially lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. In this article, an overview for basic care and maintenance procedures for the planarian species Schmidtea mediterranea is provided. In addition, protocols for two commonly used techniques are provided: RNAi silencing of specific genes and the use of whole-mount in situ hybridization to sensitively visualize gene expression.