Analysis of the progress of hormone-receptor amplification during differentiation in regenerating planarians

Planarians developing from isolated regenerates, when pretreated with epinephrine at different periods of their second regeneration, show a higher rate of sugar uptake than the controls, which were not treated with epinephrine. The hormone receptor development can be influenced most effectively by pretreatments performed during the 1--3 and 6--9 day periods, though some effect can be evoked at any time in the course of the second regeneration. The head regenerates developing from the anterior end of the original midpiece (and regenerating tails the second time, B1) were found to be most sensitive, while the similar regenerates developing from the hindpiece of the original planarian (C) showed the weakest reactivity. The experiments provide further evidence that the hormone receptors' activity can be amplified in the course of regenerative development, leading thus--at a later stage--to a more intense sugar uptake response of the cells.