Cite as: Cold Spring Harb. Protoc.; 2008; doi:10.1101/pdb.prot5053

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Establishing and Maintaining a Colony of Planarians

Néstor J. Oviedo, Cindy L. Nicolas, Dany S. Adams, and Michael Levin1

Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, Forsyth Institute and Developmental Biology Department, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA 02115, USA

1Corresponding author (mlevin{at}forsyth.org)


INTRODUCTION

To provide sufficient material for experimentation, a laboratory needs to expand and maintain a colony of planarians. It is crucial to keep a stable, healthy population of animals in a consistent environment to avoid inter-animal variability and modifier effects that can mask true phenotypes from experimental perturbation. In this protocol, we describe basic procedures for establishing and maintaining healthy colonies of Dugesia japonica, Schmidtea mediterranea, and Girardia tigrina (commonly found in the wild and commercially available in the United States). Although the recommendations are based on our optimization of conditions for G. tigrina, many of the procedures (such as food preparation and feeding strategy) can be applied to other species. For best results, the culture water must be carefully monitored and adjusted for each species.


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This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CSH ProtocolsHome page
N. J. Oviedo, C. L. Nicolas, D. S. Adams, and M. Levin
Planarians: A Versatile and Powerful Model System for Molecular Studies of Regeneration, Adult Stem Cell Regulation, Aging, and Behavior
CSH Protocols, October 1, 2008; 2008(11): pdb.emo101 - pdb.emo101.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 CSH ProtocolsHome page
N. J. Oviedo, C. L. Nicolas, D. S. Adams, and M. Levin
Gene Knockdown in Planarians Using RNA Interference
CSH Protocols, October 1, 2008; 2008(11): pdb.prot5054 - pdb.prot5054.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 CSH ProtocolsHome page
N. J. Oviedo, C. L. Nicolas, D. S. Adams, and M. Levin
Live Imaging of Planarian Membrane Potential Using DiBAC4(3)
CSH Protocols, October 1, 2008; 2008(11): pdb.prot5055 - pdb.prot5055.
[Abstract] [Full Text]