Cell and Developmental Biology Commons^™

Elucidating The Role Of Apoptosis During Cyclical Body Regeneration In Botryllus Schlosseri, Meredith Adamo

Honors Theses

Apoptosis is the principal form of programmed cell death by which multicellular animals rid themselves of old cells in order to allow new cells to grow. The colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri is a model system for homeostatic cell death and regeneration. During its unique, weekly budding cycle known as blastogenesis, new buds are produced asexually and eventually replace the old adult zooid generation through resorption via circulating phagocytes. Using polyester wax-embedded tissue sections, we have shown that TUNEL-positive (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase nick end-labeling), apoptotic cells are observed within circulating phagocytes in all stages of the colony’s death phase (takeover), including …