A quantitative study of the number and distribution of neoblasts in Dugesia lugubris (Planaria) with reference to size and ploidy
The role of the planarian neoblast as a totipotential stem cell has been discussed in the literature for well over a century (cf. Brøndsted's excellent review, 1955). It remained a matter of strong debate until 1949 when Dubois demonstrated conclusively the migration of neoblasts (through regions depleted of their neoblasts by radiation) to the surface of a wound. She showed that the onset of regeneration was delayed until the neoblasts reached the wound area, and that once they had arrived regeneration took place at the normal rate with the neoblasts actively dividing in and just posterior to the blastema. Since then many authors (the Brøndsteds, Stéphan-Dubois, Pedersen, Lender, the Benazzis) have studied the histochemistry, the distribution, and the factors which influence differentiation of the planarian neoblast in several species. Only Brøndsted & Brøndsted (1961) have reported on the total number of neoblasts in a planarian.