Dextrose and Lumbriculus variegatus

Pammie Pierce – HCOP 2008

Abstract:

My group chose dextrose for many reasons, but ultimately

because there isn’t a lot of information available on dextrose.
That means not a lot of experiments have been done with
dextrose and Lumbriculus variegatus, and our data is significant.
We subjected our worms to dextrose of different dosages (1% and
10%) and in areas of pulsations, locomotion, and chemotatics.
Each experiment proved our hypotheses to be right, except for
the locomotion test. In the pulsations we hypothesized the rates
would increase with raising the percent of the dextrose solution,
and the worms rates did increase. In locomotion we hypothesized
the worms would move faster with increasing dextrose solution
percents, but the outcome wasn’t significant to the hypothesis.
Lastly, in chemotatic we hypothesized the outcome would be
positive meaning the worms would be attracted to the dextrose
solutions, the worms almost always went toward the solution as
opposed to going away from it.

Introduction:

Dextrose is commonly used in dietary supplements and

artificial sweeteners. It’s safe to be administered to humans as
well as animals as long as it’s in safe amounts. This sugar isn’t
very common. Not much is heard about it. Also, it was very hard
to find information on the internet about this drug due to the fact
it is so rare. It was the curiosity we held that drove us to choose
dextrose in our experiment to see the outcomes when given to
Lumriculus variegatus. We will be using Dextrose on the worms to
record the differences in the pulsations, locomotion ability, and
chemotactic results. We will be using pure spring water as our
control or dependent variable. The 1% and 10% solutions of
dextrose will be our treatment or independent variables.

Hypothesis:

We hypothesize that when Lumbriculus variegatus is subjected to

the solutions of dextrose the pulsations will raise due to the fact
that dextrose is a sugar. In addition to that hypothesis we have
two more, one for locomotion and one for the chemotatic drop
test. We hypothesize that the worms will move more rapidly for
the locomotion test because of the sugar content. For chemotatic
we hypothesize that the worms will be drawn to the drops of
dextrose which would be a positive reaction.

Methodology:

Our first test is the affects the solutions of dextrose

have on the worm’s pulsation rates. To start the experiment we
mixed the solutions for our experiments. We took 1g of dextrose
and dissolved it into 100mL of spring water. Next we took 10g of
dextrose and dissolved it into 100mL of spring water.
Now, we got 30 worms and divided them into 3
groups. Group 1 is the control group, which is only spring water.
Group 2 is the 1% dextrose solution, which is the 1g of dextrose
dissolved in 100mL of spring water. Group 3 is the 10% dextrose
solution, which is the 10g of dextrose dissolved in 100mL of
spring water. We let the worms saturate in the designated
solutions for 15 minutes each and used a microscope to monitor
and record the pulsation rates for each individual worm.
Our second test is the affects the solutions of
dextrose have on the worm’s locomotion or mobility. For this
experiment, we recreated the solutions from the first test exactly.
We got 30 worms, again, and placed them in the same group style
as the first test. Then we separated the 10 worms of the three
groups into 2 subgroups of 5 worms each.
We let the worms saturate in the solutions for two
different time intervals. The first group of 5 worms saturated for
10 minutes. The second group of 5 worms saturated for 15
minutes. While the worms are in the solutions we created the
track needed to monitor the distances traveled. The track consists
of a Petri dish with a filter paper resting in the bottom, a round
piece of paper in the middle to create the circular track, and two
rubber bands to hold the circular paper in the direct center of the
filter paper. The outside of the Petri dish is marked off in
centimeter spaces.
After time is up, we placed a worm on the track, timed
it for 30 seconds and probed it every 6 seconds, and recorded the
distance traveled. We repeated those steps for every worm in the
experiment.
Our final test is the chemotatic drop test. This test will
have a negative or positive result. If the worm goes toward the
solution then it is a positive result, but if the worm tries to get
away from the solution it is a negative result. First we got 30
worms and separated them into 3 groups of 10 worms. Placed a
worm inside an empty Petri dish; made sure the excess water was
soaked up with a filter paper so the worm is laying spread out
from head to tail as dry as possible. While the worm is in this
position we placed a drop of the solution used on the tail of the
worm and timed it for 1 minute to see if it goes toward or away
from the solution. We repeated the steps for every worm in the
experiment, and recorded the data in a table format.

Results:

The results we reached for the pulsation test are

represented in this chart below. As you can see the pulsations
rates increased with increasing dextrose dosages.
 Pulsation Chart

P=0.0469

The results we reached in the locomotion test are illustrated in

the graph below. As you can see the worms in the 10% dextrose
at 15 minutes are significantly higher than those of the other
solutions.
The results we reached in the chemotatic test are illustrated in
the chart below. As you can see we had an overall positive
response.

ChemotaticDextrose Drop Test

Control 1%of Dextrose 10%of Dextrose
1.) + + +
2.) + + +
3.) + - +
4.) + + +
5.) + + +
6.) + + +
7.) + - +
8.) + + -
9.) - - +
10.) + + +

Positive Response: 9/10 7/10 (70%) 9/10 (90%)

(90%)
Negative Response: 1/10 3/10 (30%) 1/10 (10%)
(10%)

Conclusion:

Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that dextrose

increases the pulsation rates of Lumbriculus variegatus, which
confirmed our hypothesis. However, in the locomotion tests, our
hypothesis was not proven. The worms in the 10% dextrose for
15 minutes proved to be significantly higher than the other
solutions. A positive response was obtained in the chemotatic
drop test, proving our hypothesis to be accurate. All of the tests
were performed by an estimated dosage, which provides area for
improvement. Also, the time intervals weren’t sufficient enough
for exposure to fully test our hypotheses.