The Effect of Developmental Nutrition With Pueraria Montana Exposure on Ethanol Addiction in Drosophila Melanogaster

Dawn NguyenFollow

School Name

Spring Valley High School

Grade Level

11th Grade

Presentation Topic

Physiology and Health

Presentation Type

Non-Mentored

Abstract

Pueraria montana is a Chinese weed that can provide affordable treatment towards alcohol use disorders. Kudzu, the common name of the weed, can decrease the mortality rates, prevalence, and unhealthy choices associated with alcohol addiction. Therefore, an experiment has been conducted to study the correlation between environmental factors and ethanol consumption with influence of kudzu in order to increase cures available for alcoholism. The purpose of this experiment was to see if equal access to kudzu but different food accessibility and nutritional value impacted recovery from ethanol addiction. It was hypothesized that the Drosophila melanogaster raised in a rich nutritional environment would consume the most ethanol. In order to test this hypothesis, the experiment began by raising the fruit flies in three developmental environments with a 5% kudzu concentration. When the model organisms matured, a 5% ethanol and 5% sucrose concentration was given using a capillary feeding (CAFE) assay. This allowed the ethanol consumption to be measured and studied between each developmental treatment over two weeks. An average consumption rate of microliters per day was calculated and recorded. Each treatment had extremely low consumption values. While the poor consumption rates were the highest, the rich consumption rates were the lowest. An ANOVA test [F(2,3) = 0.500, p = 0.649] was conducted to analyze whether the developmental environments impacted alcohol consumption. When compared at alpha = 0.05, the data was not significant. As a result, nutritional treatments with early kudzu exposure did not influence ethanol addiction.

Location

Founders Hall 142 B

Start Date

3-30-2019 10:45 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Mar 30th, 10:45 AM

The Effect of Developmental Nutrition With Pueraria Montana Exposure on Ethanol Addiction in Drosophila Melanogaster

Founders Hall 142 B

Pueraria montana is a Chinese weed that can provide affordable treatment towards alcohol use disorders. Kudzu, the common name of the weed, can decrease the mortality rates, prevalence, and unhealthy choices associated with alcohol addiction. Therefore, an experiment has been conducted to study the correlation between environmental factors and ethanol consumption with influence of kudzu in order to increase cures available for alcoholism. The purpose of this experiment was to see if equal access to kudzu but different food accessibility and nutritional value impacted recovery from ethanol addiction. It was hypothesized that the Drosophila melanogaster raised in a rich nutritional environment would consume the most ethanol. In order to test this hypothesis, the experiment began by raising the fruit flies in three developmental environments with a 5% kudzu concentration. When the model organisms matured, a 5% ethanol and 5% sucrose concentration was given using a capillary feeding (CAFE) assay. This allowed the ethanol consumption to be measured and studied between each developmental treatment over two weeks. An average consumption rate of microliters per day was calculated and recorded. Each treatment had extremely low consumption values. While the poor consumption rates were the highest, the rich consumption rates were the lowest. An ANOVA test [F(2,3) = 0.500, p = 0.649] was conducted to analyze whether the developmental environments impacted alcohol consumption. When compared at alpha = 0.05, the data was not significant. As a result, nutritional treatments with early kudzu exposure did not influence ethanol addiction.