Ephedrine testing FOR THE WIN.

Introduction/Background

It has been said that the drug ephedrine has a more adverse effect on
the human body than previously thought. Allow me to elaborate on that
topic for a short while. In recent years, the drug “Ephedrine” has found its
way into many controversial stories. Several of these stories involve the
unfortunate victim dying of massive heat stroke or heart failure. Having this
in mind as I entered a HCOP summer oriented Biology class, I had to set up
an experiment involving the specie of worm Lumbriculus variegatus. During
a team discussion with my lab partners, I mentioned Ephedrine as a
possibility for our experiment. After doing research on the substance
Ephedra, (the base for Ephedrine) I decided on basing our experiment on
Ephedrine and what possible effects the substance would have on the
worms. This in turn would clarify if the controversy over ephedrine was
based on facts or just a gullible and manic public. Since ephedrine is used
widely over-the-counter as a “dietary enhancer” and in many weight loss
pills, these results could spark several inquiries into whether the drug was
still safe enough to be used as widely as it is. In our experiment I plan on
checking the pulsation rates (like our heart beats) and the regeneration rates
of our worms.

Literature Review
Sardo, Soares, Gerhardt. “Behavior, Growth, and Reproduction of
Lumbriculus variegatus (Oligochaetae) in Different Sediment Types.” Human and
Ecological Risk Assessment, 13:519-526, 2007.
This study just reviewed the general facts about the worms, and rough
statistics on how the worms regenerate in various conditions. The study also
touched base on a few features the worms have as an adaptive feature.
This study provided the basic information that I needed on the background of
my worms and helped my group to set up the regrowth rates for the worms. It also
provided a few adaptations the worms have as an evolutionary quirk.
http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=112&sid=6d9f7255-ff7b-
4a45-a425-b
0dcaade36c2%40sessionmgr107
Caffeine and Ephedrine: Physiological, Metabolic and Performance-
Enhancing Effects.
In recent years, the use of Caffeine and Ephedrine for the purpose of athletic
performance enhancement has become very popular among several sportspersons.
This may be due to the idea that the two drugs are more effective when taken
together. This article considers each of the drug’s chemical properties and effects
on athletic performance to determine whether a mixture of caffeine and ephedrine
are truly more efficient.
This article just gave our group a basis of facts on ephedrine and its effects
that helped form our hypothesis.
 Xiao, Nong, Shizhi Li, Xiaoping Zhang, and Siyuan Chen. "Effect of
Ephedrine on Neuronal Plasticity of Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Damage in
Neonatal Rats." Neuroscience Letters 435 (2008): 99-102. Academic Search
Premier. EBSCO. WVU Library, Morgantown. 27 June 2008. Keyword:
Ephedrine.
This study was conducted to examine the effect of ephedrine on the
neural plasticity of hypoxic ischemic damage, also known as HIBD, in pre-
born rats, and also to explore the effects the drug would have on molecular
mechanics. Sixty rats with HIBD were randomly distributed into four separate
groups, three containing different types of ephedrine, while one remained as
a control group. They used the immunohistochemical method to gauge the
representation of growth protein and synaptophysin in these rats. The mean
time it took for the ephedrine exposed rats to escape the water maze was
lesser than that of the control group. However there was no statistical
difference between the three different types of ephedrine rats. Though the
ephedrine increased memory, learning, and spatial orientation, but as time
elapsed all of those traits began to slip behind as a result of prolonged
exposure to the ephedrine.
This was just simply an amazing article on ephedrine and some of its
initial benefits, and it’s tragic and unfortunate results if used for a prolonged
period.

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that the ephedrine will make the pulsation rates increase
tremendously, and have an initially positive reaction on regeneration, and
then it will have an adverse effect on the worms’ regeneration.

Methods

For this experiment to produce any real results then I have to set up a
control and main treatment group and to see more accurate results, I added
another group of ephedrine worms with a different concentration. For the
pulsations, I simply mixed up a 1% solution of ephedrine and spring water
and place one individual worm in 2.5 mL of that concentration. I then waited
10 minutes and counted the pulsation rates of the worms. Our control group
for this experiment was just simply placed in spring water for 10 minutes and
then I counted the pulsations. I repeated this experiment with different
worms for both the control and experimental groups for 20 minutes instead
of ten and the results were actually surprising. In our 10 minute test, the
pulsation rates on the worms were a little more than double that of our
control group. Our 20 minute worm rates were nearly triple the control
groups.
For our regeneration rates, the worms were precisely cut in half and
then from both of those halves, an 8 segment piece would be placed in
either our control group, our 1% Ephedrine solution, or our .1% solution.
Then I simply would let the worms sit in little individual wells and then in a
week come back and count the regrowth that the worms had been able to
produce. Those were the two tests we had agreed upon as a group to do.

Timeline

Wednesday June 18, 2008

• Decide on our test substance
• Concentrate our Ephedrine solution.
Wednesday June 25, 2008
• Count pulsation rates
Wednesday July 2, 2008
• Cut the worms into segments
• Begin the week long regeneration rate experiment.

Wednesday July 9, 2008

• Count the regrowths of the worms
• Begin analysis of effects ephedrine had on the worms.
Discussion/problems

I am using ephedrine to see if it has any effect on the worms’ pulsation

and regeneration rates. The problems with this experiment are that I have
truly never messed around with ephedrine much and I don’t know how the
substance reacts with metabolic processes and circulatory rates. The worst
case would be that the ephedrine would be insoluble in water and the
experiment would be impossible to work on. The worms could also be
contaminated with substances that were not foreseen and the results would
be inaccurate. And worse case every test subject that I subject to ephedrine
testing would simply die due to, too high of a concentration of ephedrine.
And since the worms weight like a 10,000th of our weight, there is no real
conversion factor to work with so I have to estimate on what a safe
concentration would be for the worms.

Working bibliography

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

variegatus (Oligochaetae) in Different Sediment Types.” Human and Ecological
Risk Assessment, 13:519-526, 2007.

http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=112&sid=6d9f7255-ff7b-4a45-

a425-b
0dcaade36c2%40sessionmgr107

Xiao, Nong, Shizhi Li, Xiaoping Zhang, and Siyuan Chen. "Effect of Ephedrine
on Neuronal Plasticity of Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Damage in Neonatal Rats."
Neuroscience Letters 435 (2008): 99-102. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.
WVU Library, Morgantown. 27 June 2008. Keyword: Ephedrine.