Flatworms are attractive to study because their regenerative abilities are quite pronounced.
Their rate of regeneration, for example, is faster than that of most amphibians, the traditional vertebrate used to study this problem. The fragments were allowed to heal and regenerate for at least three days. The scientists also found that pre-existing musculature was affected. Cells in the controls, however, had started to regenerate normally. The specificity of the double-stranded RNA was determined in two ways.