Daphnia Dissection

Effects of Drugs on Heart rate Michelle Dilgard Undergraduate Student Education Major Biology Concentration Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN 38505 December 3, 2006 Table of Contents Page Abstract 1 Key Words 2 Introduction3-6 Methods and Materials7-8 Expected Results and Benefits 9 Results 10-11 Discussion12 Conclusion13 Literature Cited 14-15 Abstract This experiment is designed to find out how drugs affect heart rate. This experiment will use Daphnia in order to monitor the effects certain drugs have on heart rates.I will observe the changes in heart rate of Daphnia when exposed to Caffeine, Ibuprofen, Alcohol, and Nicotine. I will have several separate samples of Daphnia in my study. Each community will be exposed to a different drug and observe how the heart rate of the Daphnia changes accordingly. I believe the Daphnia heart rate will increase when the Daphnia are exposed to Caffeine and Nicotine because both of these drugs are stimulants. I believe the Daphnia heart rate will decrease and slow down when the Daphnia are exposed to Ibuprofen and Alcohol.This experiment will show not only the effects of these drugs on Daphnia but also what they similarly do to the human body when it is exposed. Daphnia are used as a humane alternative to Humans when performing this type of experiment. The results on the Daphnia will be very similar to how the human heart would react if exposed to these drugs. Key Words Nicotine Alcohol Caffeine Ibuprofen Effects of Drugs Daphnia Magna Heart rate Drugs Heart Introduction My experiment deals with the affects of different drugs on the heart rate of daphnia. I will focus on the daphnia’s body itself first.Then I will give information pertaining to the drugs used: Caffeiene, Ibuprofen, Alcohol, and Nicotine. Daphnia are small crustaceans that live in the water. They are commonly called water fleas. Daphnia are freshwater zooplankton and consume phytoplankton and some other zooplankton as well. The daphniaà ¢â‚¬â„¢s bodies are transparent and their internal structures can easily be seen. The heart is the internal organ I focused on within the daphnia. The heart can be easily seen within the body cavity of the daphnia which made it easy to find and easy to count the heartbeat (Villegas-Navarro 2003).Caffeine is a very important drug to consider because 90% of American consumes caffeine on a daily basis. Half of all American consume more than 300 mg of caffeine a day which makes it America’s most consumed drug to date. Caffeine is found in coffee, soda, tea, chocolate, etc. Caffeine is known as trimethylxanthine in the medical community. Caffeine can be used as a cardiac stimulant and also as a mild diuretic. Cardiac stimulants increase the heart rate, and diuretics increase urine production. Caffeine is a very addictive drug and operates just like amphetamines such as cocaine and heroin (Nehlig 1992).Caffeine not only stimulates the heart of humans but also the heart of daphnia ( Foster 1997). Ibuprofen is commonly used to relieve pain, tenderness, swelling and stiffness caused by arthritis. It is also used to relieve mild to moderate pain in the body and reduce fever. Ibuprofen is called a NSAIDs. It works by stopping the body’s production of a substance that causes pain, fever, and inflammation. Ibuprofen is most often used to treat arthritis (Cluevers 2004). Alcohol is often used as a solvent in medical drugs, because of its low toxicity and ability to dissolve non-polar substances.Ethanol is often used as an antiseptic, to disinfect the skin before injections are given. When processed correctly Alcohol is drunk in recreation. Alcohol affects the body as a nervous system depressant (Wong 1997). Nicotine like caffeine is a stimulant. This stimulant is found in cigarettes. Cigarettes contain 8 to 20 milligrams of nicotine but when smoke only 1 mg of nicotine actually enters the body. Nicotine can have two effects on the body, it can relax a perso or it can stimulate a person, this is based on the amount and the regularity of smoking or nicotine intake.Nicotine works by causing a releas of adrenaline into the body. Statement of Problem How do certain drugs affect heart rate? Objective/Hypothesis Statement This experiment is designed to find out how drugs affect heart rate. This experiment will use Daphnia in order to monitor the effects certain drugs have on heart rates. I will observe the changes in heart rate of Daphnia when exposed to Caffeine, Ibuprofen, Alcohol, and Nicotine. I will have several separate samples of Daphnia in my study.Each community will be exposed to a different drug and observe how the heart rate of the Daphnia changes accordingly. i. e. Foster 1997 I hypothesize that the Daphnia heart rate will increase when the Daphnia are exposed to Caffeine and Nicotine because both of these drugs are stimulants. I hypothesize the Daphnia heart rate will decrease and slow down when the Daphnia are exposed to Ibuprofen and Alcohol. The null hypothesis to this is: I hypothesize that drugs will have no effect on the Daphnia’s heart rate. Methods and Materials Data Form |Resting Heart Rate |Heart Rate 1 |Heart Rate 2 |Heart Rate 3 | |Alcohol 1 | | | | | |Alcohol 2 | | | | | |Alcohol 3 | | | | | | | | | | | |Ibuprofen 1 | | | | |Ibuprofen 2 | | | | |Ibuprofen 3 | | | | | | | | | | |Caffeine 1 | | | | | |Caffeine 2 | | | | |Caffeine 3 | | | | | | | | | | | |Nicotine 1 | | | | | |Nicotine 2 | | | | | |Nicotine 3 | | | | | ProcedureI used a modified version of the experiment performed by Jasmine Kamai and Varner Allbrett when they studied the effects of Kava on the heart rate of Daphnia. My procedure is as follows: Before beginning my experiment I must mix the drug solutions to be used. First I will dissolve ibuprofen and caffeine tablets into a solution of water in two different containers, that I will later determine what strength to make each. I will also tear open cigarettes and mix the tobac co with water and let sit for 24 hours after which I will drain the water off into a container which will make up my nicotine solution. For alcohol I will just mix vodka and water to a desired strength in a 4th container. Next I will cipher out a daphnia and drop it onto a slide to be viewed under a microscope.I will record its normal heart rate. Next I will add a drop of the alcohol solution and over the next 5 minutes I will record the changes in heart rate after one minute of exposure, 3 minutes of exposure and then 5 minutes of exposure. After recording my results I will dispose of this Daphnia. I will do this same portion of the experiment with two more daphnia. I will then continue with this procedure while using the other three drugs. I plan to use the lab facilities in the Biology Building on Tennessee Tech’s Campus. Along with most of their lab equipment including: microscope, slides, vials, Petri dishes, droppers and other equipment. Materials Water Depression Slide sCover slips Droppers Daphnia Magna Microscope Watch Petri Dishes Daphnia Anatomy Chart Cigarettes 80 proof vodka No-dos Ibuprofen tablets Expected Results and Benefits After performing this experiment I expect to find that the Daphnia’s heart rates will increase with Nicotine and Caffeine because both of these drugs are stimulants and that the Daphnia’s heart rates will decrease with Alcohol and Ibuprofen solution. This experiment will show not only the effects of these drugs on Daphnia but also what they similarly do to the human body when it is exposed. Daphnia are used as a humane alternative to Humans when performing this type of experiment. Results Normal |w/Caffeine |w/Alcohol | |84 |100 |89 | |80 |102 |85 | |86 |105 |90 | |88 |109 |91 | |82 |109 |88 | |84 |103 |85 | |90 |110 |93 | |86 |106 |89 | |80 |90 |84 | |84 |88 |87 | Heart Rate of Daphnia when exposed to Caffeine and Alcohol Change in Heart Rate of Daphnia when exposed to Caffeine Change in Heart Rate of Daphnia when exposed to Alcohol Discussion After performing my experiment I found that Daphnia Magna heart rate greatly increases when exposed to Caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant and should produce that affect (Nehlig 1992). Caffeine has similar affects on humans (Foster 1997).The heart rate increased anywhere from 10 to 20 beats per minute. As seen in my data table the heart beats sometimes jumped from a normal heartbeat in the 80s to a heartbeat in the 100s when exposed to caffeine. Gerald Adams also found the same result when he tested his hypothesis. I also found that Daphnia’s heart rate slightly increased with the exposure to Alcohol. The heart rate does not have as drastic a change when exposed to Alcohol as it did when exposed to Caffeine. The heart rates just increased by about 5 to 10 beats per minute. As seen in my data table the heart beats only jumped from a normal heartbeat in the 80s to a heartbeat in the 90s when exposed to Alcohol.This was disproved by sever al different experiments (Wong 1997). Wong found that the heart rate of daphnia decreased. Since alcohol is a depressant it should have lowered the heart rate of daphnia. I feel that the increase in stress on the Daphnia may have called this time of increase. When Daphnia is exposed to Nicotine and Ibuprofen, the heart rate of the daphnia could not be seen as any different. (Sollman 1999). Although Cluevers said that there should be a change in the heart rate (Cluevers 2004). Conclusion In conclusion I have determined that the heart rate of Daphnia can be affected by adding different drugs. Daphnia heart rate increased by ten to twenty beats per minute when exposed to Caffeine.Daphnia heart rate increased by five to ten beats per minute when exposed to Alcohol. Unfortunately the results for Ibuprofen and Nicotine could not be seen. There was not enough evidence to determine how the Heart rate changed when the Daphnia were exposed to Ibuprofen and Nicotine. By doing this experiment i t can be assumed that the some of the same reactions could be found if Humans are exposed to these Drugs. Literature Cited Cluevers, Michael. 2004. Mixture toxicity of the anti-inflammatory drugs diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, and acetylsalicylic acid. Exotoxicology an Environmental Safety 59: 309-315. Foster, Rachel. 1997. A stroboscopic method to investigate the effect of caffeine on Daphnia hear rate.Journal of Biological Education 31: 253-255. Nehlig, A. , J. L. Daval, and G. Debry. 1992. Caffeine and the central nervous system: mechanisms of action, biochemical, metabolic and psychostimulant effects. PubMed. com. Villegas-Navarro, Arturo, Esperanza L. Ross, and Jose L. Reyes. 2003. The heart of Daphnia magna: effects of four cardioactive drugs. Comparative Biochemisty and Physiology Part C Toxicology and Pharmacology 136C: 127-134 Wong, Diana C. L. , Philip B. Dorn, and Eric Y. Chai. 1997. Acute toxicity and structure-activity relationships of nine alcohol ethoxylate surfacta nts to fathead minnow and Daphnia magna. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 16: 1970-1976. . Appendix Normal |w/Caffeine |w/Alcohol | |84 |100 |89 | |80 |102 |85 | |86 |105 |90 | |88 |109 |91 | |82 |109 |88 | |84 |103 |85 | |90 |110 |93 | |86 |106 |89 | |80 |90 |84 | |84 |88 |87 |