Effect of increasing hydrogen peroxide concentrations on head oscillations of <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>

Abstract

Hydrogen peroxide is commonly used as a disinfectant and bleaching agent. In this study, we observed the effect of hydrogen peroxide on the locomotive ability of Caenorhabditis elegans. We used four treatment levels, consisting of three different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide solutions at 1%, 2% and 2.5%, and a storage buffer (0%) as the control. We used a DinoXcope to record a video of the initial 30 seconds of exposure to 2 μL of each solution, we then used these videos to count the number of head oscillations that occurred within this time. The mean head oscillations measured at 0%, 1%, 2% and 2.5% hydrogen peroxide were 5 ± 3, 87 ± 11, 74 ± 8, and 72 ± 7, respectively. According to our one-way ANOVA calculation, the measured oscillations showed a statistically significant difference between the number of head oscillations in the hydrogen peroxide treatments and that of the control treatment. Increasing hydrogen peroxide concentration has an effect on the number of head oscillations of Caenorhabditis elegans (p = 8.4116 × 10^-15). Hydrogen peroxide may have had an effect on the ASH chemosensory neurons and LITE-1 gustatory receptors which caused the observed increase in head oscillations as an attempt to escape from exposure.