Stem Cell Dynamics During Growth, Feeding, and Starvation in the Basal Flatworm Macrostomum Sp. (Platyhelminthes)

Development, growth, and regeneration in Macrostomum are based--as in all Platyhelminthes--on likely totipotent stem cells (neoblasts), basic for all Bilaterians. We demonstrate dynamics and migration of neoblasts during postembryonic development, starvation, and feeding of Macrostomum sp. Double labeling of S-phase and mitotic cells revealed a fast cell turnover. Conflicting with recent results from planarians, we have some indication of slow cycling neoblasts. As in planarians, starvation dramatically reduced mitotic activity and a very basic level was maintained after 30 days of starvation. Afterward, feeding induced a dramatic immediate proliferative response probably caused by G2-arrested neoblasts. The following 12 hr showed a significant mitotic decline, caused by the depletion of the G2 neoblast pool. Neoblasts that pass through S-phase led to a maximum of mitoses after 48 hr. Our results allow deeper insight into cellular dynamics of an ancestral bilaterian stem cell system of a basal Platyhelminth.