The effect of ethanol concentration on the locomotion speed of Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Ethanol exposure can result in many observable behavioral responses, such as a decrease in speed and lack of coordination. When exposed to ethanol, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) may exhibit these behavioral responses. In this study, we examined the effect of ethanol exposure on the speed of locomotion of C. elegans. We had four treatments: three solutions containing ethanol at concentrations of 150 mM, 300 mM, 400 mM, and one control comprised solely storage buffer solution. After an exposure time of five minutes in 20 μL of each solution, and an acclimation time of one minute, 30 second videos were recorded with a DinoXcope and used to calculate speed in ImageJ. Our results showed a strong negative correlation (R² = 0.98) between speed of locomotion and ethanol concentration, with mean speeds of locomotion of C. elegans in the 0 mM, 150 mM, 300 mM and 400 mM solutions being 0.50 ± 0.11 mm/s, 0.31 ± 0.17 mm/s, 0.23 ± 0.11 mm/s, and 0.12 ± 0.08 mm/s respectively. A one-way ANOVA test showed a statistically significant difference in the mean speed of locomotion of C. elegans in the four treatments:  [F _{(3, 20)} = 9.84, p= 1.99 x 10^-2]. This allowed us to reject our null hypothesis and provide support for our alternate hypothesis that increasing ethanol concentrations decrease speed of locomotion. Ethanol may lead to the increased activation of the SLO-1 protein subunit of the BK potassium channel resulting in the observed lack of coordination and decreased speed of locomotion.