The Evaluation of a Honey-Vanilla-Cedarwood Oil Mixture as a Potential Anesthetic Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model Organism to Explore a Cheaper Alternative for Lower Resource Settings
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
10th Grade
Presentation Topic
Physiology and Health
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Abstract
Lower Resource Settings (LRSs), areas that struggle to afford healthcare, struggle to accumulate essential products and keep their healthcare systems stocked. Cheaper alternatives are popular for facilities in LRSs to preserve funds. LRSs use spinal anesthesia to spend the least amount of money possible, yet this is not the most effective answer, as large amounts of spinal anesthesia ordered in small time frames increases the price. The purpose of this study was to test if a honey-vanilla-cedarwood oil mixture would work as an anesthetic on Caenorhabditis elegans to use in LRSs. It was hypothesized the honey-vanilla-cedarwood oil mixture would produce a greater sedative effect compared to the honey-vanilla and cedarwood oil mixtures on their own due to their combined sedative properties. Caenorhabditis elegans were placed into five separate petri dishes containing Escherichia coli, then each of the mixtures were diluted and 10 mL were applied to the assigned petri dish. After adding the mixtures, 30-second videos were recorded of the nematodes and imported to the Tracker Video Analysis and Modeling Tool, where 30 worms were tracked per each group. A One-Way ANOVA test, with a 95% confidence interval, concluded the data was significant and rejected the null hypothesis, as it had a p-value of 0.000000000000000331, lower than the a-value of 0.05. Significance was found between the honey-vanilla, honey-vanilla-cedarwood oil, and the control group. It was then determined that while there is no evidence supporting the hypothesis, causing them to move at an increased rate.
Recommended Citation
Lockhart, Madisyn, "The Evaluation of a Honey-Vanilla-Cedarwood Oil Mixture as a Potential Anesthetic Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model Organism to Explore a Cheaper Alternative for Lower Resource Settings" (2025). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 108.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2025/all/108
Location
PENNY 210
Start Date
4-5-2025 9:30 AM
Presentation Format
Oral and Written
Group Project
No
The Evaluation of a Honey-Vanilla-Cedarwood Oil Mixture as a Potential Anesthetic Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model Organism to Explore a Cheaper Alternative for Lower Resource Settings
PENNY 210
Lower Resource Settings (LRSs), areas that struggle to afford healthcare, struggle to accumulate essential products and keep their healthcare systems stocked. Cheaper alternatives are popular for facilities in LRSs to preserve funds. LRSs use spinal anesthesia to spend the least amount of money possible, yet this is not the most effective answer, as large amounts of spinal anesthesia ordered in small time frames increases the price. The purpose of this study was to test if a honey-vanilla-cedarwood oil mixture would work as an anesthetic on Caenorhabditis elegans to use in LRSs. It was hypothesized the honey-vanilla-cedarwood oil mixture would produce a greater sedative effect compared to the honey-vanilla and cedarwood oil mixtures on their own due to their combined sedative properties. Caenorhabditis elegans were placed into five separate petri dishes containing Escherichia coli, then each of the mixtures were diluted and 10 mL were applied to the assigned petri dish. After adding the mixtures, 30-second videos were recorded of the nematodes and imported to the Tracker Video Analysis and Modeling Tool, where 30 worms were tracked per each group. A One-Way ANOVA test, with a 95% confidence interval, concluded the data was significant and rejected the null hypothesis, as it had a p-value of 0.000000000000000331, lower than the a-value of 0.05. Significance was found between the honey-vanilla, honey-vanilla-cedarwood oil, and the control group. It was then determined that while there is no evidence supporting the hypothesis, causing them to move at an increased rate.
