Lila Marlowe

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Walstrom, Katherine

Area of Concentration

Chemistry, Biology

Abstract

This thesis discusses drug addiction research, particularly focusing on psychostimulants like amphetamines and their effects on the brain's dopamine pathway. It explores Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as a model organism to study drug addiction and highlights its advantages, such as its fully mapped nervous system and highly conserved dopamine pathway. This research tests the effectiveness of the swimming induced paralysis (SWIP) assay in C. elegans treated with ephedrine, a psychostimulant. Results indicated a significant increase in paralysis (52.5% to 82.9%) with higher ephedrine concentrations (5.0 mM to 7.0 mM), suggesting its potential as a model for studying drug addiction and other dopamine-related disorders. The data supports previous work and emphasizes C. elegans as a valuable tool for developing a better understanding of drug addiction and potentially creating new treatments. Although useful for studying molecular mechanisms, using C. elegans as a model does have limitations, and further research is still necessary to improve its efficacy as a model for human diseases such as drug addiction.

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