Science Fair Project Idea

[tycon69]

So I have been straining my mind for a science fair idea since august and have just now came up with a good idea. I was planning on studying the effects of addiction in mice. My idea is to get 9 mice and place them into 3 different cages and assign them each different numbers, A1 B1 C1, ect. I would then fill 3 different syringes with 2 addictive substances and one placebo ( Nicotine, Alcohol, and a saline/glucose solution). From then i would inject each of the three in A intramuscularly with a small dose of a chemical, B with a moderate dose, and C with a larger dose at a specific time each day for a few weeks, all the while trying to keep myself blinded from which mouse gets which of the three chemicals. I would also try and implement some sort of sensory detail for the mice to associate with the doses like maybe a citrus aerosol spray or a specific music track.

 

After two or three weeks, or whatever time period at which they would be dependant upon the drugs, i would cease the doses and observe the withdrawal symptoms. I then plan to inject all of the mice with a placebo at their specific time with the specific sensory detail to test for a placebo calming of the withdrawal symptoms. I would also like to test any known treatments for addiction that i can find.

 

Thanks for reading and I wish for some feedback, since my science teacher is of no help at all. Is this procedure ethical to the mice? How hard is it to keep these mice up and alive? Is there anything that i should not do or should change? Are there any other legal addictive substances that I could test? What are some over the counter or traditional addiction cures that i should test on them during withdrawals? Is there anything I could add to make this experiment better? Is there a way to extract the nicotine or can i purchase nicotine in a pure aqueous form? Any feedback will help, I truely appreciate any help that I can get from you.

[DJBruce]

Here are the APA's guidelines for animals usage in experiments. If you use pure nicotine be very careful as it is very poisonous with an oral LD-50 for a mouse being 3.3 mg/kg and a lethal dose for an adult human being between 30 and 60 mg. Also for another legal addictive substance you could test caffeine which can be obtained easily from a nutrition store or over the Internet.

 

http://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/chemical/nicotine.htm#SubSectionTitle:7.2.2%20Relevant%20animal%20data

[jake.com]

Nicotine is an abundant poison.

Here is how to concentrate it:

First get a can of chewing tobacco or pipe tobacco. Remove

the contents and soak in water overnight in a jar

(about 2/3 cup of water will do…). In the morning, strain into another jar the

 

mixture through a porous towel. Then wrap the towel around the ball of tobacco and squeeze it until all of the liquid is in the jar. Throw away the tobacco–you will not need it anymore. Now you have two options. The first one makes the nicotine more potent.

 

1) Allow to evaporate until a sticky syrup results in the jar. This is almost pure nicotine

 

2) Heat over low flame until water is evaporated and a thick sticky syrup results (shouldn’t take too long, though).

 

Do not ingest the nicotine after distilling it. It is a deadly poisen even in a very low dose. As for testing with animals, I wouldn't recommend it, for some people get a little touchy on that subject.

 

PS- You'll probably have to give the rats the nicotine with a needle. Nicotine has a very strong taste, and they probably wont eat it willingly.

Edited March 24, 2009 by jake.com
spelled nicotine wrong a couple of times.

[darkenergy]

hi tycon69,

 

my first reaction to your post was interesting overall topic, but is it worth putting animals through possible suffering and isolation for an outcome that has been very well researched and documented at this point in time.

 

and, you may want to consider the guidelines for ethical conduct in care and use of animals from the APA (http://www.apa.org/science/anguide.html). the two parts that stand out to me are...

 

 

I. Justification of the Research

 

A. Research should be undertaken with a clear scientific purpose. There should be a reasonable expectation that the research will

 

a) increase knowledge of the processes underlying the evolution, development, maintenance, alteration, control, or biological significance of behavior

 

d) provide results that benefit the health or welfare of humans or other animals.

 

and,

 

B. The scientific purpose of the research should be of sufficient potential significance to justify the use of animals.

 

i know it may seem like just a science fair project or just mice, but i still think it's important at every level of science to keep the same standards in mind.

 

if you are open to any science topic, have you considered something related to renewable energy or anything related to the green movement that is so hot these days? i just built a mini wind turbine in a class and performed a variety of calculations that are feeding into a potential installation of a larger turbine on campus....just an idea.

 

best of luck to you!