The Effects of Dextrose of the Lumbriculus Variegatus

Introduction
Studies have shown in the past that dextrose (sugar) can cause all kinds of health
problems, from cancer to heart disease, yet still give you temporary energy. As Nancy
Appleton, states in 146 reasons why sugar is ruining your life, dextrose can make little
children cranky or it can make them hyper. The more sugar we take in the more tolerant we
get to it, thus causing us to intake morei.
With the amount of study that is out there I decided to use dextrose in my
experiment with the Lumbirculus variegatus also known as California Blackworms. My
independent variable will be the solution of dextrose I will be subjecting the California
Blackworms to. The dependant variable of my experiment will be the pulsation rate,
locomotion, and the reaction to the chemotactic (drop test). My hypothesis is that if the
Lumbriculus variegatus is put into the solutions of dextrose then their pulsation will speed
up, they will go faster on the track then those in the control, and finally they will be
attracted to the dextrose in the drop test.

Literature Review
As Sardo, Soares, and Gerhardt’s study says the lumbriculus variegatus is a fresh
water worm found throughout North America and Europe. It prefers shallow habitats, and
feeds on decaying vegetation on microorganisms. This worm is widely used in sediment
toxicity testing. Worms held in the laboratory are usually smaller than those collected out in
the field. Laboratory worms are always reproduce by asexual fragmentation, meaning that
they break apart before sexual maturity has been reached and the head and tail form two
totally different worms, this is called regenerationii.
The researchers said that they hypothesize that dextrose, being a hypertonic
solution, might be an ideal medium for IAP. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of
dextrose 50 % for performing IAPiii.
The assumption that foods containing sugar might have an adverse effect on
behavior was first raised in 1922 by Shannon. Sugar later appeared in the 1970's as a major
offending agent when the lay literature provided considerable coverage to the condition
called functional reactive hypoglycemia. In establishing sugar as a major dietary component,
it is important to review if a relationship does exist between sugar and behavior. The first
and most prominently believed relationship is that between sucrose and hyperactivity and/or
aggressive behaviors. A second reported relationship has been sugar's effect on the
opposite of hyperactivityiv.

Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that if the Lumbriculus variegatus is put into the solutions of
dextrose then their pulsation will speed up, they will go faster on the track then those in the
control, and finally they will be attracted to the dextrose in the drop test.

Methods
My first experiment will be to test the effect that dextrose has on the California
Blackworm’s pulsation rate. I will begin my experiment by creating a design that will help
me in keeping track of how many worms go into what solution. Next, I will add 1 gram of
dextrose to 100 ml of water, this will create the 1% solution of dextrose. After this, I will add
10 grams of dextrose to 100 ml; this will create the 10% solution of dextrose.
After making my solutions I will place ten worms in each solution for fifteen minutes.
When the fifteen minutes is over I will put the individual worms under the microscope and
count the pulsations for one minute. I will then determine the average, standard deviation,
and T-test for both the control and the different percentages of dextrose.
 For my second experiment, I will subject the worms to the same control and
treatment, this time five will be in the solutions for ten minutes and five in the solutions for
fifteen minutes. While the worms are in the solutions I will make a “race” track to test the
locomotion of the worms. I will then, after the time is up, take out one worm at a time and
put them on the track. I will be watching them for thirty seconds and measuring how far
they go in the track. During the thirty seconds I will be probing them every six seconds. I
will then record the average of all thirty worms, the standard deviation, and a T-test.
My third experiment will be testing the chemotactic of thirty worms using the same
solutions as the previous experiments. The chemotactic experiment will test the positive or
negative reaction to the solutions and control. I will be putting one worm at a time in to a
dry Petri dish and putting one drop of solution on the tail end of the worm, if the worm
immediately goes into the bubble of solution it will be a positive outcome, but if it is
automatically repelled by the solution it is a negative outcome. Then I will make a chart of
the positives and negatives.

Timeline
Wednesday, June 25
o Look at the worms and make observations under the microscope
o Pulsation experiment
o Record the pulsation data
Wednesday, July 2nd
o Set up the locomotion experiment
o Begin timing the worms
o Begin recording the locomotion data
Wednesday, July 9th
o Set up the drop test Petri dish
o Prepare the worms for the test
o Record data of all 30 worms

Discussion/problem
I am using Dextrose to see if it has an effect on the California Blackworm’s
pulsations rate,
locomotion, and chemotactic rate. These experiments will help in the understanding of the
effect of dextrose on the worms, and later this might help in the understanding of it in the
human body. This experiment does come with a few limitations; the amount of solution is
not to scale with the tiny body of the Lumbriculus variegatus. The concentrations of dextrose
are simply an educated guess of what I feel will not kill them but still have the same effect of
them as a human.

Working bibliography
Appleton, N. Goldman, J., et al. "Behavioral Effects of Sucrose on Preschool
Children." Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.1986;14(4):565-577. Available from:
http://www.rheumatic.org/sugar.htm Accessed 2008 July 8

[anonymous]. Drug Week via NewsRx. Com “ENDOSCOPY; Recent findings from University
of Alabama highlight research in endoscopy.” Endoscopy: 609, 2007. Available from:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb
=21_T4084810698&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T40
84812801&cisb=22_T4084812800&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=246798&docNo=1
Accessed 2008 July 8
[anonymous] Sugar and Human Behavior. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations. Available from: http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/w8079e/w8079e0o.htm#TopOfPage
Accessed 2008 July 8

Sardo, Soares, Gerhardt. “Behavior, Growth, and Reproduction of the Lumbriculus

Variegatus (Oligochaetae) in Different Sediment Types”. Human and Ecological Risk
Assessment, 13: 519-526, 2007. Available from:
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=103&sid=00e80e0b-5307-4f8f-99a0-
723bd7924eb5%40sessionmgr104 Accessed 2008 July 8
i
Appleton, N. Goldman, J., et al. "Behavioral Effects of Sucrose on Preschool Children." Journal of
Abnormal Child Psychology.1986;14(4):565-577. Available from:
http://www.rheumatic.org/sugar.htm Accessed 2008 July 8
ii
Sardo, Soares, Gerhardt. “Behavior, Growth, and Reproduction of the Lumbriculus Variegatus
(Oligochaetae) in Different Sediment Types”. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 13: 519-
526, 2007. Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=103&sid=00e80e0b-
5307-4f8f-99a0-723bd7924eb5%40sessionmgr104 Accessed 2008 July 8

iii
[anonymous]. Drug Week via NewsRx. Com “ENDOSCOPY; Recent findings from University of
Alabama highlight research in endoscopy.” Endoscopy: 609, 2007. Available from:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T
4084810698&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T4084812801&
cisb=22_T4084812800&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=246798&docNo=1 Accessed 2008 July 8

iv
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Sugar and Human Behavior. Available
from: http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/w8079e/w8079e0o.htm#TopOfPage Accessed 2008 July 8