Exploring the Effects of Varying Retinol Vitamin A Concentrations on Tissue Regeneration in the Species Asterina coronata

Abstract

The following study will look at the relationship between tissue and regeneration rate in the sea star species Asterina and retinol vitamin A. The overall purpose of the study is to evaluate whether concentrations of retinol vitamin A will produce a positive, negative, or null effect on the tissue regeneration in Asterina coronata. After amputation of the ray, 48 sea stars were subjected to four different retinol vitamin A concentration levels for sixteen hours and observed over a thirty-to-forty-day time period. The results show that the second highest concentration group produced the most consistent and noticeable growth. Moreover, the highest concentration group showed the second highest rate compared with the lowest concentration group and the control. Through these results, it can be concluded that retinol vitamin A does support tissue regeneration in Asterina coronata to a limit before it begins a negative feedback. The findings in this study add to an understanding of the mechanisms behind cell differentiation and whether stem cells involving tissue regeneration can be activated with the treatment of vitamin A. Hopefully the connections made in this paper can impact current research on human stem cell therapy itself, and the topic of whether sea stars can be made into viable stem cell therapy models.