The Syncytial and Intercellular Nature of Dedifferentiated Material in the Parenchyma of Regenerating and Starved Planarians

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Abstract
In Planarians, dedifferentiation leads to the production of syncytial elements which, in the intercellular spaces of the parenchyma, are in the place of the ground substance of other Metazoans. Syncytial elements are not found in intact and normally fed Planarians; they are readily observed in animals previously starved or having undergone several successive regenerations. These conditions provoke a massive dedifferentiation of cells whose plasma membranes disappear and whose endoplasmic reticulum is resorbed while the number of mitochondria is considerably reduced. After completion of dedifferentiation, the syncytium’s fundamental hyaloplasm abounds in ribosomes and is practically without membranes, except in the immediate vicinity of the nuclei. At the base of the regenerate this syncytium divides into very regular cell territories, as a result of the appearance of thin plasma membranes in the hyaloplasm; these membranes have no apparent connection with the remains of the endoplasmic reticulum. The cells, which certain researchers refer to as ‘neoblasts’ and which are observable by optic microscopy, undergo the same dedifferentiation phenomena as the others during regeneration; this is in accordance with the glandular nature that other researchers have attributed to these cells.

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