2025 Volume 23 Issue 1 Pages 16-21
The excellent tissue regeneration ability of the planarian flatworm has attracted attention from the perspective of regenerative medicine and dentistry. Dugesia japonica is the model organism and has pluripotent stem cells throughout its body. When physically damaged it regenerates its body, which has anterior-posterior polarity and dorso-ventral polarity including the brain, nervous system, digestive system, etc. The Wnt signaling pathway is deeply involved in the polarity of the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes. Activation of the Wnt signaling pathway promotes tail regeneration, whereas inactivation promotes head regeneration. Several regulatory factors involved in this process are also known. The Wnt gene family are highly conserved across multicellular animals including cnidarians, arthropods and chordates. Whether or not a tissue has advanced regenerative abilities is depend on how the expression of these genes is regulated. This will have various implications for the future prospects of regenerative dentistry.
